As the deadline for Dish Network and Sinclair Broadcast Group to reach a new carriage deal looms ever closer, tempers are beginning to flare.
On Monday, Sinclair warned viewers that they could lose its stations, including several in Paducah, Cape Girardeau, St. Louis and Nashville - the opening salvo in what could be a prolonged battle.
Then Dish fired a volley of its own, claiming that Sinclair's demands for its channels simply aren't reasonable. "We carry more than 1,800 local broadcast stations nationwide. Sinclair is asking for more than any other station anywhere in the country," said Dave Shull, Dish's senior VP of programming. "This goes beyond pure corporate greed - it's profoundly insensitive to the needs of the public."
That was enough for Sinclair, and the company this afternoon replied that Dish isn't telling the whole truth. Here's part of the company's rather lengthy statement:
"Sinclair notes that the prices it is requesting for its extremely popular stations are substantially lower than the amounts Dish is paying for other far less popular channels it carries as a result of Dish’s flawed economic model that on a relative basis compensates channels with little to no audience share more than the broadcast channels. In addition, Sinclair notes that its negotiations with Dish ... involve matters other than pricing."
The prospects of a new deal look pretty dim at this point.
0 comments:
Post a Comment