Dish are now without Nexstar locals in 120 markets. In a statement Nexstar said, “Dish is refusing to reach a new distribution agreement allowing the satellite television behemoth the right to continue airing Nexstar’s highly-rated programming.”
Some of the channels dropped include WKRN (ABC) in Nashville, KXAN (NBC) in Austin, and KLAS (CBS) in Las Vegas.
Earlier this week Brian Neylon, Group President, DISH TV said, “Since becoming the nation’s largest local station owner, Nexstar has increased its annual revenue by $1 billion a year.Nexstar is demanding more than $1 billion in fees for its television channels. This shocking increase is the highest we’ve ever seen. Nexstar is intentionally turning its back on its public interest obligation and instead demanding consumers pay significantly more for the channels they could receive for free over-the-air.”
While there are 9 million Dish subscribers, the loss of the channels will affect about 5.4 million Dish customers. This doesn’t affect Sling TV, since they don’t carry Nexstar locals — Nexstar is in disputes with two other streaming services. Since mid-October, Nexstar-owned ABC local affiliates have been dark on Hulu Live TV, while Nexstar-owned CBS affiliates have been off fuboTV since September.
Last year, Nexstar-owned local affiliates went dark on DirecTV and AT&T TV NOW for 2 months before the two sides were able to come to a new deal.
Earlier today, DirecTV customers lost Tegna locals after the two sides were unable to reach a deal.