Over the weekend, DISH left local stations in 42 Scripps-owned markets when the two companies failed to agree on a transportation deal.
Unsurprisingly, both Scripps and DISH point the finger at each other when it comes to why an agreement could not be reached to keep the channels live.
“Without an established agreement, DISH subscribers are now missing out on essential news, weather and entertainment programming from our stations,” said Brian Lawlor, president of Local Media for Scripps. “DISH’s refusal to negotiate a fair deal is preventing its clients from accessing urgent news during a global pandemic, a period of social unrest, an active political year and a season of severe weather for many parts of our country.
“Our impasse, after five months of discussions, is not about the rates DISH pays us, but about its inability to agree to other terms of distribution,” Lawlor continued. “We hope that DISH recognizes the importance of our programming to its customers and our viewers and helps us resolve this dispute.”
DISH returned with a statement, saying that the company offered multiple extensions that were scrapped by Scripps.
“As the nation faces the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and Hurricane Hanna makes landfall, viewers need access to their local news and programming. On behalf of clients, we ask Scripps to stop punishing its own viewers so that we can focus on reaching a fair deal, “Andy LeCuyer, senior vice president of programming at DISH, said in a statement.
This blackout follows the loss of 10 Cox Media stations on DISH last week.
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Jess Barnes 