Dish Network customer? Trying to watch LEX 18? Here’s why you can’t.
Because of a contract dispute, LEX 18 went dark for Dish Network subscribers Saturday night.
Dish and WLEX-TV’s owner, the E.W. Scripps Company, have not reached an agreement about the fees Dish must pay to retransmit the television stations’ signals. Local channels in 42 television markets across 31 states were affected by the blackout, Dish said.
“After five months of negotiating with DISH and multiple contract extensions, Scripps and DISH Network may be reaching an impasse,” Scripps said in a statement published by LEX 18. “We hope DISH will understand the need for Scripps’ viewers to receive its local television stations given the pressing news in our communities right now, including a global pandemic, discussions around social unrest, the active political year and severe weather season. This dispute is about the distribution of our broadcast signal so we can keep our local audiences safe and informed.”
Meanwhile, Dish accused Scripps of “blocking consumers in an effort to gain negotiating leverage as it demands higher monthly rates for its local channels.”
“After months of refusing to negotiate, Scripps Media Inc. made a take-it-or-leave-it offer just minutes before expiration,” Dish said in a news release Saturday night.
This is not the first time failed negotiations have led to a blackout for Dish customers.
Kentucky subscribers also lost WLEX for a while in 2016, when the station’s previous owner, Cordillera Communications, butted heads with Dish.
In 2017, WKYT warned Dish customers of a possible blackout, but a last-minute deal kept that from happening.
