NEW YORK (AP) — Dish said Wednesday that 129 local stations in 79 different markets have gone dark for its customers because of a fight with the channels’ owner, Sinclair Broadcasting.
Sinclair is one of the largest TV broadcasting companies in the U.S., and its channels include affiliates of ABC, CBS, CW, Fox and NBC in markets throughout the country, including Washington DC, Seattle/Tacoma, Minneapolis, St. Louis and Pittsburgh.
Cable and satellite TV companies negotiate with channel owners over issues including how much to pay for the channels. Sometimes that leads to fights that result in channel blackouts, which can last less than a day or drag on. In 2013, Time Warner Cable customers lost access to CBS channels for a month.
Dish said the Sinclair channels went dark for its customers on Tuesday afternoon because of its fight with Sinclair over terms for a cable channel that Sinclair wants to buy. Dish said that Sinclair rejected an extension offer to the existing contract.
In a statement, Sinclair said it is willing to negotiate a fair deal with Dish and that it would be open to an extension if Dish “was not simply asserting take it or leave it positions.” The Hunt Valley, Maryland-based company also noted that the blacked-out channels are available “over the air” — you can watch them with an antenna.
In an email, Barry Faber, Sinclair’s general counsel, declined to comment further on details of the dispute.
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