CBS 17 is out of the lineup for Dish Network customers over contract dispute
Dish Network customers have lost access to CBS 17 programming because of a carriage dispute with the station’s owner, Nexstar Media Group.
The contract between the two companies expired on Wednesday, Dec. 2, and Nexstar stations were removed from the Dish Network lineup that night at 7 p.m. after negotiations failed.
The dispute has taken 164 local Nexstar stations off the air in 115 markets. Nexstar owns stations that are CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox network affiliates.
The disruption means local viewers will miss shows like “The Amazing Race,” “60 Minutes,” “NCIS” and NFL football games.
A banner across the top of the CBS17.com website alerts viewers to the situation and points them to a page on the website explaining Nexstar’s position. The page encourages viewers to call Dish Network and “demand that WNCN be returned to your channel line-up” or to switch providers, listing DirecTV as an option.
A familiar back-and-forth
The dispute between Dish Network and Nexstar is over retransmission fees. Carriers like Dish Network, AT&T and Charter (which owns Spectrum) pay cable networks and TV station owners a monthly license fee to carry their signals.
The CBS17.com website says that Nexstar “presented a proposal for fair value compensation based on the importance and value our programming brings to our viewers,” but says that Dish rejected the offer.
Dish Network released a statement saying the company “made a fair offer to keep Nexstar stations available to our customers, but Nexstar rejected it.”
The statement says that Nexstar is asking for “over $1 billion in fees for stations that are available for free over the air.”
Nexstar says that Dish “continues to propose rates that are less than fair market value.”
How to watch CBS without cable or satellite
Viewers can still get CBS programming with an over-the-air antenna, sold at big box stores such as Best Buy, Walmart and Target, and also from Amazon.
