Dec. 06--CBS has pulled its programming from Dish Network after the two sides were unable to reach an agreement on fees, CBS said late Friday.
The blackout began at 6 p.m. Friday and affects 342,000 Chicago-area Dish subscribers, who will no longer be able to view WBBM-Ch.2. CBS also went dark for Dish subscribers in 17 other markets including New York; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Sacramento, Calif.; Dallas; Denver; Boston; and Pittsburgh.
"CBS has been negotiating a carriage agreement with Dish for six months and has already granted two extensions," CBS said in a statement. "During this time, Dish has dragged its feet at our many attempts to negotiate in good faith. Behavior like this is why Dish has a long history of depriving customers of the programming they have paid for."
Colorado-based Dish, which has 14 million satellite TV subscribers and is the third-largest pay-TV provider in the U.S. behind Comcast and DirecTV, has been embroiled in several ongoing carriage fee disputes. CBS and other content providers increasingly rely on such revenue from cable and satellite TV providers that carry their programming.
"We are disappointed that CBS has chosen to black out their local channels, but remain optimistic that the channels will return quickly as both sides are continuing to work tonight to finalize an agreement," Dish said in a statement Friday night.
In its statement, the satellite TV provider said the impasse is due to "the unrelated" CBS Sports Network but declined to elaborate. CBS-owned Showtime remains available and is not subject to the blackout, according to Dish.
On Monday, Comcast SportsNet and Dish agreed to a short-term contract extension, averting a blackout that would have affected subscribers in Chicago and three other markets. In August, Dish dropped CSN New England after a series of extensions failed to resolve a carriage dispute.
The satellite TV provider also dropped Turner Broadcasting's CNN and Turner Classic Movies in October, and threatened to black out TBS and TNT before agreeing to restore all of the channels while negotiations continued.
In its statement, CBS pointed to pursuit of both satellite and digital compensation for its programming as leading to the impasse.
"What CBS seeks is appropriate compensation for the most-watched television network with the most popular content in the world, as well as terms that reflect the developing digital marketplace," the statement said. "We hope that we can reach an agreement very soon so we can all get back to the business of providing the best entertainment, news and sports to the Dish customers we both serve."
rchannick@tribpub.com
Twitter @RobertChannick
