LIN Media wants to make something digitally clear: if its signals are removed from Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) lineups it will be because the satellite provider is unwilling to work out a new retransmission deal while continuing to operate under the terms of the old one. The original agreement runs out Friday at midnight, at which time 17 LIN broadcast affiliate stations will be removed from Dish lineups.
"We want to emphasize that Dish made the decision to terminate carriage," Rebecca Drake, vice president of distribution for LIN wrote in a letter to FCC Media Bureau Chief William Lake, a copy of which was delivered to FierceCable. "LIN proposed to extend the existing agreement for an additional month."
Dish, Drake wrote, refused even though it has "asked the FCC to require parties to continue carriage on terms of expiring retransmission agreements." Dish has not commented on the dispute since an initial statement that LIN is "demanding more than a 140 percent rate hike and other burdensome contract terms."
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