The current contract for the carriage of LIN Media stations on Dish Network expires Friday, 3/4/11 at midnight – and LIN is of the opinion that the satcaster is not going to agree to a fair price for continued carriage of the stations. But LIN President/CEO Vincent Sadusky said he looked forward to continued negotiations.
LIN noted that the stations will cease to exist on the satellite operator’s channel lineup if a new contract is not signed, and Sadusky stated, “Our highly-rated television stations are important assets to our local communities and it is unfortunate that DISH does not recognize their fair market value.”
LIN reminded Dish subscribers in affected markets that they will still have access off-air or by switching to an alternative MVPD.
The affected markets and stations include:
* Albuquerque NM: KRQE-TV (CBS) and KASA-TV (FOX)
* Austin TX: KXAN-TV (NBC) and KNVA-TV (CW)
* Buffalo NY: WIVB-TV (CBS) and WNLO-TV (CW)
* Columbus OH: WWHO-TV (CW)
* Dayton OH: WDTN-TV (NBC), WBDT-TV (CW)
* Ft. Wayne IN: WANE-TV (CBS)
* Grand Rapids MI: WOOD-TV (NBC), WOTV-TV (ABC)
* Green Bay WI: WLUK-TV (FOX)
* Indianapolis IN: WISH-TV (CBS) and WNDY-TV (MyNetwork TV)
* Lafayette IN: WLFI-TV (CBS)
* Mobile AL: WALA-TV (FOX) and WFNA-TV (CW)
* New Haven CT: WTNH-TV (ABC) and WCTX-TV (MyNetwork TV)
* Norfolk VA: WAVY-TV (NBC) and WVBT-TV (FOX)
* Providence RI: WPRI-TV (CBS) and WNAC-TV (FOX)
* Springfield MA: WWLP-TV (NBC)
* Terre Haute IN: WTHI-TV (CBS)
* Toledo OH: WUPW-TV (FOX)
RBR-TVBR observation: Hmmmmmm. This will give them something fresh to talk about when the FCC takes up its NPRM on retransmission consent at its 3/3/11 Open Meeting. Bring your scorecards, ladies and gentlemen: We’ll want to see which commissioners bring up this incident, and more importantly, see if any of them take sides.
