ENGLEWOOD, Colo.—Dish has announced that Mission Broadcasting and White Knight Broadcasting local stations, which are both operated by Nexstar Media Group, were removed from Dish TV on Jan. 6 after the Dish and the station groups were unable to reach a new retransmission consent agreement.
The blackout impacts access to stations in 28 markets nationwide.
Dish noted that the stations are operated by Nexstar but Nexstar has issued a statement that it is not involved in negotiations regarding retransmission consent agreements.
“Both programming groups rejected Dish’s contract extension offers to keep programming available for customers while we continue to negotiate,” said Brian Neylon, group president, Dish TV. “We’re disappointed Mission and White Knight have chosen this course of action. The demanded fees are unreasonable given that Mission and White Knight’s viewership on Dish have significantly declined over the past three years, indicating that many viewers have moved to other channels for programming they prefer.”
"We are extremely disappointed in the Dish Network's unwillingness to forge an agreement," countered Dennis Thatcher, Mission Broadcasting Inc.'s president. "We are simply seeking the same fair agreement that we have come to with other cable, satellite, and telco providers for the high-quality programming we provide. We produce thousands of hours of local news and programming. We pay our network partners millions of dollars for entertainment programming and live sports. The cost to do these things has, understandably, gone up significantly—especially live sports rights—and these costs are passed along to us, the station owner. Dish has put more than 800,000 of their subscribers in the middle, denying them programming they've already paid for, rather than negotiating on the basis of current market conditions. Mission has a long track record of negotiating fairly and avoiding service interruptions in our markets, and we don't want viewers in our local markets to miss any of the vitally important local news, sports, and weather coverage we deliver every day. Our record of positive negotiations stands in stark contrast to that of Dish. Many, many subscribers will have seen Dish behave this way in the past. In addition, Dish is trying to deny Mission stations to subscribers in many B, C, and D counties, where so many rely on satellite service, as cable companies won't deliver."
The Mission Broadcasting stations affected are:
- (NBC: KRBC) - Abilene, TX
- (FOX: WXXA) - Albany, NY.
- (CW: KWBQ) - Albuquerque, NM
- (MNT: KASY) - Albuquerque, NM
- (FOX: KCIT) - Amarillo, TX
- (MNT: KCPN) - Amarillo, TX
- (FOX: KHMT) - Billings, MT
- (ABC: WVNY) - Burlington, VT
- (FOX: KLJB) - Davenport, IA
- (FOX: WFXP) - Erie, PA
- (CW: WTVW) - Evansville, IN
- (FOX: KFQX) - Grand Junction, CO
- (ABC: KODE) - Joplin, MO
- (ABC: WLAJ) - Lansing, MI
- (FOX: KLRT) - Little Rock, AR
- (CW: KASN) - Little Rock, AR
- (ABC: KAMC) - Lubbock, TX
- (NBC: KTVE) - Monroe, LA
- (CW: WPIX) - New York, NY
- (FOX: KPEJ) - Odessa, TX
- (FOX: WNAC) - Providence, RI
- (ABC: WTVO) - Rockford, IL
- (NBC: KSAN) - San Angelo, TX
- (FOX: KMSS) - Shreveport, LA
- (CBS: KOLR) - Springfield, MO
- (ABC: WAWV) - Terre Haute, IN
- (ABC: WUTR) - Utica, NY
- (FOX: KJTL) - Wichita Falls, TX
- (MNT: KJBO) - Wichita Falls, TX
- (CBS: WYOU) - Wilkes Barre, PA
The White Knight Broadcasting stations blacked out on Dish are:
- (NBC: WVLA) - Baton Rouge, LA
- (FOX: KFXK) - Tyler-Longview-Lufkin, TX
