CBS has fired the latest, and what it says is the last, shot in the CBS vs. Dish Network drama.
CBS announced today that Dish Network subscribers will lose access to CBS-owned stations Thursday at 7pm if they can’t reach terms on a new carriage deal.
In New England, this impacts viewers of both WBZ-TV CBS 4 and WSBK-TV MyTV 38. This would be the second blackout of a station in Boston. WFXT-TV FOX 25 is currently in a similar dispute with Verizon FiOS and has been off the FiOS system since Thanksgiving.
The top story on CBS-owned station websites today tells viewers "Attention Dish Customers... You could lose CBS Thursday night" and redirects them to www.KeepCBS.com.
"For six months, CBS has been vigorously attempting to secure fair carriage deals with Dish. During that time, Dish has clearly not been operating with the same sense of urgency. In the last few weeks, we have granted two extensions, in the hopes that this would give both parties sufficient time to come to a resolution. The second extension, which protected Dish subscribers’ programming over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, was the final one" CBS said in a statement.
They add "we would very much like to avoid going dark, thereby joining the more than 120 stations Dish has dropped since 2013 alone. Unless agreements are reached, however, our viewers should be prepared to lose CBS from their Dish systems on Thursday evening at 7:00 PM/ET."
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 set to be 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.).
CBS Sets Thursday Deadline in CBS vs. Dish - Boston Viewers Impacted
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