Add Cox Media Group to the list of broadcast television station owners that are presently engaged in a retransmission consent agreement impasse with a direct broadcast satellite company.
This time, it involves Dish, and the “black out” sees each side, to little surprise, pointing fingers at one another.
The DBS television service provider, as Apollo Global Management-controlled CMG sees it, “unilaterally chose to black out” all of Cox Media Group’s television stations across the
country “after deploying its well-worn anti-consumer drop tactic.”
With this move, CMG claims, “DISH has once again punished its own customers and deprived hundreds of thousands of consumers across the country of access to CMG’s critical local news, emergency weather and traffic information, popular sports and other local and national network programming.”
CMG wasn’t through with its verbal assault on Dish, with Cox Media Group EVP/Television Paul Curran calling it “infamously unreasonable and difficult to deal with in retransmission consent and all other content negotiations.”
Curran added that “it was solely DISH’s decision to remove” CMG stations from its platform.
While federal law prohibits any MVPD from retransmitting a broadcast television station without a consent agreement, Curran explained that CMG offered DISH an extension its current agreement. DISH refused. “We’re simply asking DISH to agree to a fair-market deal that is consistent to what their competitors have agreed without any interruption of service to consumers,” Curran said.
Brian Neylon, Group President for DISH TV, sees the matter very differently.
“Cox’s refusal to negotiate in good faith and subsequently forcing a blackout of its stations for DISH customers is deplorable,” he said, suggesting that a “good faith” complaint with the FCC’s Media Bureau could be forthcoming from Dish.
Dish believes CMG “is using customers as negotiation leverage, demanding a massive fee increase and holding viewers hostage.”
There’s more. According to Dish, “Despite their public interest obligation, Cox Media wants to force DISH customers to pay for local channels if they choose to receive them free with an over-the-air antenna. In addition, Cox is trying to negotiate for stations it does not yet own.”
That’s intriguing, but Dish did not elaborate on which stations those would be. Is Dish referring to the privatization of TEGNA, which sees Apollo Global Management seeking to be a non-voting minority shareholder? No. Rather, Dish is likely referring to the February 2022 transaction that sees Cox Media Group agreeing to purchase KEVU-CD 23 in Eugene-Springfield, Ore., the MyNetwork TV affiliate for the market, and FOX affiliate KLSR-34 in Eugene — along with translators associated with the stations — from Patsy Smullin-led California Oregon Broadcasting Inc. (COBI).
The deal, announced with an undisclosed price, saw Frank Higney of Kalil & Co. serve as the broker.
Furthermore, Dish made unsubstantiated claims that Cox’s viewership “has significantly declined on DISH TV, indicating that many viewers have moved to other channels for their entertainment and news.”
In markets such as Dayton, Ohio and Orlando, CMG’s WHIO-7 and WFTV-9 remain dominant local news sources, with strong CBS and ABC affiliations in place, respectively.
The impacted CMG stations are comprised of:
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(ABC: WSB-2) – Atlanta
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(FOX: WFXT-25) – Boston
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(ABC: WSOC-9) – Charlotte
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(CBS: WHIO-7) – Dayton, Ohio
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(FOX: KLSR-34) – Eugene, Ore.
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(FOX: WFOX-30) – Jacksonville
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(ABC: WFTV-9) – Orlando, FL
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(NBC: WPXI-11) – Pittsburgh
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(CBS: KIRO-7) – Seattle-Tacoma
How long could this impasse last? The last tussle over retransmission consent fees between Dish and Cox Media Group lasted five months, and was signed in December 2020.
Meanwhile, Standard General, the financial backer that seeks majority control of TEGNA while CMG’s majority owner, Apollo Global Management, takes a non-voting minority interest is engaged in a retrans battle with Dish all on its own.
Earlier this month, WLNE-6 in Providence; KLKN-8 in Lincoln, Neb.; KBSI-23 in Cape Girardeau, Mo.; and WDKA-49 in Paducah, Ky., all faded to black on Dish in lieu of a new retransmission consent accord with Standard Media, led by Deb McDermott.
