CBS set 7pm yesterday as the deadline to reach a deal with Dish Network to keep it's owned television stations on the Dish Network lineup. As the deadline passed, CBS issued a one-line statement saying the programming would stay on Dish as negotiations continued.
Apparently, no deal was reached and CBS has pulled their stations from Dish. CBS did not take down CBS Sports Network and Showtime, although it could do so if the contract impasse continues.
In Boston, that means Dish subscribers have lost access to WBZ-TV CBS 4 and WSBK-TV MyTV 38. A similar situation between Cox Media Group and Verizon that kept WFXT-TV FOX 25 off the FiOS lineup in Massachusetts was resolved yesterday.
In a statement on www.KeepCBS.com, CBS urges Dish subscribers to take action and says "You can no longer see your favorite programs including NCIS, The Big Bang Theory, The NFL on CBS, SEC Football, CBS 2 News, Dr. Phil, Scorpion, 2 Broke Girls, NCIS: Los Angeles, Person of Interest, Criminal Minds, Hawaii Five-0, Madam Secretary, and the Good Wife."
"TAKE ACTION TO GET THE PROGRAMMING YOU PAY FOR BACK ON YOUR TV!" the statement continues, "call Dish to demand they give you a rebate and return your favorite programs."
Previously, CBS had accused Dish of “deliberately dragging its feet” during negotiations, which have lasted for months. “Dish appears willing to drop the most popular programming in its entire channel lineup because it won’t negotiate the same sort of deal that other cable, satellite and telco companies have struck with CBS. Not reaching agreements is nothing new for Dish. In fact, Dish has dropped more than 120 stations since 2013 alone, whereas CBS has only had one service disruption.”
CBS is also no stranger to blackouts. Last year the network won a high profile fight with Time Warner Cable Inc, which backed down and gave in to demands after Time Warner pulled CBS programs for a month in several of its markets.
Last month Dish said that “only CBS can force a blackout of its channels” and that it was “actively working to reach a deal before the contract expires.” Chairman Charlie Ergen told analysts recently that CBS’ decision to stream its stations’ programming — except for major sports including NFL football — for $5.99 a month via CBS All Access “makes that product less interesting” for pay TV distributors. But he praised CBS’ high ratings and “marvelous job with content creation. I think they’re the best at that, have been the best at that and certainly are a valued partner, so I would certainly think that you’ll see them on Dish.”
CBS Television Stations consists of 29 owned-and-operated stations, including 16 that are part of the CBS Television Network, eight affiliates of The CW Network, three independent stations and two MyNetworkTV affiliates.
In addition to WBZ & WSBK in Boston, viewers of the following stations are currently blacked out on Dish:
WCBS-TV and WLNY-TV (New York), KCBS-TV and KCAL-TV (Los Angeles), WBBM-TV (Chicago), KYW-TV and WPSG-TV (Philadelphia), KTVT-TV and KTXA-TV (Dallas-Ft. Worth), KPIX-TV and KBCW-TV (San Francisco), WUPA-TV (Atlanta), WWJ-TV and WKBD-TV (Detroit), KSTW-TV (Seattle), WTOG-TV (Tampa-St. Petersburg), WCCO-TV (Minneapolis), KCNC-TV (Denver), WFOR-TV and WBFS-TV (Miami), KOVR-TV and KMAX-TV (Sacramento), KDKA-TV and WPCW-TV (Pittsburgh), WJZ-TV (Baltimore), as well as WCCO-TV’s satellite stations KCCO-TV (Alexandria, Minn.) and KCCW-TV (Walker, Minn.).
