ATVA, Dish, Tegna Point Fingers Over Blackout
A blackout of Tegna stations for Dish customers in 53 markets is “another example of broadcast conglomerates prioritizing profit over people,” said the American TV Alliance in a release (see 2110060038). “This weekend, millions of football fans across the country…
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will be disappointed when they settle in to watch the game and realize it’s unavailable,” said ATVA. "DISH is purposefully misleading customers and inconvenienced its own subscribers by proactively removing TEGNA stations before the deadline," emailed a Tegna spokesperson. "Rather than using service disruptions as a business strategy, we call upon DISH to return to the negotiating table and work with us to restore our channels." Dish didn't comment, but issued a release on the blackout Wednesday. "We made a fair offer to keep Tegna stations available to our customers, but Tegna rejected it, forcing the removal of its channels," said Dish in the release. "Tegna is looking to sell its stations to the highest bidder and is simply trying to exploit DISH customers as a way to get the maximum price and further fatten their wallets."