Dish Says Sinclair Is ‘Turning Its Back on Its Public Interest’ in Carriage Negotiations

Dish responded Monday afternoon to a release by Sinclair Broadcast Group that said the satellite carrier would be dropping 112 of its broadcast stations on August 16.

The two companies have been embroiled in negotiations over a new carriage agreement in advance of the end of their old deal, which expires next Monday.

“Sinclair is demanding DISH pay nearly a billion dollars in fees for their television channels — a massive increase from what we pay for these same channels today despite declining viewership,” said Brian Neylon, Group President, DISH TV. “Sinclair is making these outrageous demands, turning its back on its public interest obligation and putting customers in the middle of its negotiations.”

Dish CEO Charlie Ergen discussed the negotiations during the company's Q2 Earnings Call on Monday.

“First of all, I’m disappointed that they put a press release out that that they expected the network to come down, since I think we have till August 16,” Ergen said. “Obviously, many negotiations come down to the wire so, we’re still going to bargain in good faith and hope. (But we’re) disappointed they seem to have come to the conclusion the channels are coming down.”

As opposed to concentrating on the carriage of Bally Sports RSNs, Ergen said his concern was with ensuring carriage of the local broadcast stations.

“We don’t have any customers calling us on RSNs today, (but) if the local channels were to go down, we would have more than one customer call us the next day and say, ‘where’s my local channels’ in a particular market,” Ergen said. “So, our focus is on making sure that our customers aren’t disenfranchised for the local channels.”

Neylon said that Sinclair is using a negotiating tactic meant to intimidate Dish by going directly to customers to force Dish to accept terms they are not willing to accept.

“Sinclair is threatening to remove its channels from DISH customers if its unreasonable demands are not met,” said Neylon. “This negotiating tactic is used to upset our customers and intimidate us into accepting outrageous contract terms — a tactic the channel owner uses frequently.”

“We will continue to fight on behalf of DISH customers to keep TV bills as low as possible,” Neylon added. “Despite the fact that Sinclair has walked away from the table multiple times, we stand ready to negotiate in good faith.”

Ergen pointed out two things in relation to the networks.

“The good news for our customers are, they have other ways to get their channels,” he said. “First of all, they watch them less; the networks less. And, they have other ways to get those networks that they haven’t had in the past.”

Users can stream local affiliates through an inexpensive service like Locast, or satellite Dish customers could choose to switch to a streaming service like Hulu Live TV to see their local stations.