Dish settles differences with broadcasters amid coronavirus outbreak

Dish Network has set short-term carriage agreements with some broadcasters, as access to coronavirus information outweighs contract negotiation impasses.

The satellite provider and Cox Media Group said to “keep communities safe, healthy and informed,” they are suspending the contractual retransmission dispute between the two companies in the following markets:

•          Binghamton, New York

•          Syracuse, New York

•          Medford, Oregon

•          Spokane, Washington

•          Yakima-Tri Cities, Washington

•          Yuma, Arizona

•          Alexandria, Louisiana

•          Eureka, California

•          Greenville-Greenwood, Mississippi

•          Idaho Falls-Pocatello, Idaho

The stations included local news, along with network content from ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, and have all been blacked out by Dish since mid-January due to an ongoing contract dispute. All stations have now been restored to the Dish lineup, effective immediately.

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“From the onset of this situation, our CMG newsrooms across the country have been working around the clock to provide accurate and up-to-date information to the communities we serve,” said Kim Guthrie, CEO of Cox Media Group, in a statement. “We are pleased to be able to restore these channels on Dish so that our viewers in these communities can be informed and able to make the right decisions for the safety of their families. We appreciate Dish’s cooperation in agreeing to suspend our dispute so that we can help our viewers navigate through this uncertain time.”

Dish said it also reached a short-term agreement to restore channels owned by Mission, Marshall and White Night Broadcasting until April 13, 2020.

“Dish is committed to ensuring that our customers have access to critical local news coverage regarding COVID-19 in their community,” said Andy LeCuyer, Dish senior vice president of programming, in a statement. “Our customers always come first, and restoring these channels is one more step we’ve taken to help them get through this challenging time.”

The restored stations include: