Midwest Stations Dropped from DISH Lineup

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Midwest Stations Dropped from DISH Lineup



Early Friday morning, DISH Network was forced to remove from its lineup four broadcast stations scattered throughout the Midwest due to a carriage dispute with a broadcaster.

The Citadel Communications stations dropped from DISH are ABC affiliate WOI in Des Moines, Iowa, ABC affiliate KCAU in Sioux City, Iowa, CBS affiliate WHBF in the Quad Cities area in Illinois and Iowa, and ABC affiliate KLKN in Lincoln, Neb.

In a statement, DISH said Citadel is demanding "unreasonable contract terms and an excessive rate increase for continued carriage on DISH Network - an increase that DISH Network is unwilling to pass on to customers." And in order to keep prices in check for customers, the satellite TV company said it "draws the line at such excess and challenges strong-arm tactics."

Also, DISH Network argued that it has negotiated retransmission consent deals with nearly 1,000 other local TV stations "and has reached a fair agreement with nearly all of them."

In response, Citadel told viewers in a statement that its offer to DISH "is really quiet simple and fair. We've asked them to fairly compensate us for the re-distribution of our on-air programming." The broadcaster also said its proposal is consistent with carriage fees DISH pays for other broadcast affiliated TV stations.

In addition, Citadel said that during the past several years the company has successfully negotiated dozens of similar agreements without any major difficulty.
 
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