Don’t Blink: Another Dish Drain For WINK TV

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BONITA SPRINGS, FLA. — In June 2019, the CBS affiliate serving Southwest Florida was the subject of a RBR+TVBR feature story for one unfortunate achievement: it had been prevented from being received by Dish Network subscribers in a DMA that includes such fast-growing cities as Fort Myers, Naples, Estero, and Marco Island.


And, this retrans impasse had stretched into its sixth month.

Eventually, the locally based TV station owner and Dish struck a new agreement. Alas, that agreement expired — right before Super Bowl LV.

This, once again, put CBS viewers who are Dish subscribers in Lee, Charlotte and Collier Counties in the dark once again.

In a statement released late Saturday (2/6), Dish — as is the case in such disputes of late — blamed Fort Myers Broadcasting for the prevention of WINK-11 in Fort Myers from reaching Dish subscribers.

According to Dish, the station owner rejected the DBS provider’s request for an extension.

“Instead, the station owner chose to take this station away from DISH customers, blocking thousands of Floridians from tuning in to Super Bowl LV,” Dish said.

With no other option aside from a digital antenna one may purchase and attached to their HDTV, Dish pointed those who wished to watch Super Bowl LV — at no cost — to CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App.

This is most certainly part of the tit-for-tat negotiation process between Fort Myers Broadcasting and Dish, as the “free” availability of the biggest annual sporting event in the U.S. is perhaps in contrast with higher retransmission rates WINK’s owner is seeking.

“We made a fair offer to keep WINK available to our customers, but Fort Myers Broadcasting rejected it,” said Melisa Boddie, Dish’s Programming Vice President. “Fort Myers Broadcasting is using our customers as bargaining chips … Our customers deserve a fair deal for their local content, not to be played like pawns by greedy station owners.”

Boddie added that Dish “gave in to WINK’s demands and agreed to their rates, but that wasn’t enough — WINK wanted more.”

With Dish seeking “a reasonable deal,” pleading for their customers’ patience, WINK had its own take on the negotiations breakdown.

“Unfortunately, WINK-TV and Dish have reached an impasse in negotiations for carriage of WINK,” the station said in a message appearing at WINKNews.com. “Despite granting numerous extensions to Dish, little progress was made in securing a new agreement between WINK and Dish and service was terminated on February 6 at 7pm.”

By law, Dish can’t carry WINK in the absence of a retrans accord. And, Fort Myers says, “WINK cannot provide assurance that service to DISH will be restored.”

Dish customers know the drill all too well.

With WINK pointing fingers, noting that only Dish has engaged in a blackout of its signal and is responsible “for most of the television service disruptions in the United States,” the absence of one of Southwest Florida’s most-watched TV stations is a reprise of a broken Dish deal seen two years ago.

Then, WINK GM Joe Schwartzel was coy when speaking with RBR+TVBR. “We are continuing to have conversations with DISH,” he said. But, Schwartzel added that it remained unknown if and when a resolution could come.

One did arrive. And now, WINK and Dish could be right back where they were in June 2019 — stuck, with no deal signing in sight.

For Schwartzel, disagreements with DISH are nothing new. In January 2016, a contract dispute resulted in DISH blacking out WINK-TV until just before that year’s Super Bowl telecast. “They went with the agreement put in front of them,” he recalled.

In 2019, DISH refused to even agree to that.

On March 18, 1954, Fort Myers Broadcasting Company signed WINK-11 on the air as the first station based in the region, which includes Charlotte County to the north and Collier County and such favorite snowbird locales as Naples and Marco Island.

Today, it remains owned and operated by FMBC, and one of the top stations in Southwest Florida.

Walk down bustling Fifth Avenue South in Naples, and more often than not one will see WINK NEWS on a bar television. With Dish and Fort Myers Broadcasting arguing anew, it’s a safe bet these businesses are Comcast or DirecTV subscribers.