The owner of Evansville, Ind., CBS affiliate WEVV-TV said Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) has paid it an undisclosed sum in back interest fees, plus interest, after the broadcaster sued the satellite operator in August.
Bayou City Broadcasting filed a lawsuit against Dish in U.S. District Court in Colorado, alleging that Dish improperly attempted to "prorate its payments for retransmission fees owed to Bayou City and refused to pay the actual amounts owed as per their confidential retransmission consent agreement."
The lawsuit has been publicized by the National Association of Broadcasters, which highlighted the new settlement.
"This was an open and shut matter from the beginning," said Bruse Loyd, attorney for Bayou City Broadcasting, in a statement. "There is a written agreement between Bayou City and Dish that dictates payment terms. It was very clear that Dish unilateraly [sic] violated those terms. We are very satisfied with the outcome as well as the expeditious nature of the resolution."
A Dish representative said the company had no comment on the matter.
"Based on Dish's cavalier attitude toward this court's ruling, and obvious willingness to continue this practice, it is likely Dish is shorting other broadcasters and program suppliers across the United States in the same manner -- betting their content providers will never discover Dish's fraud," the suit alleged.
The suit punctuated an active summer for Dish on the retrans battle front. The satellite pay-TV company has fought with both Sinclair Broadcast Group and Tegna over retransmission consent fees. However, the company in recent months did manage to settle both the disagreements with new contracts.
For more:
- read this Bayou City Broadcasting press release
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