Dish Network Customers Locked Out Of All Star Game Broadcast

Dish Network customers are locked out of All Star Game broadcast on WDAF Fox 4 due to the contract dispute between Fox 4’s parent company Tribune Broadcasting and Dish Network. The running battle between them is keeping the broadcast of Kansas City station off the satellite network. Around 5 million customers of Dish Network, who watch 42 television stations of Tribune in 33 markets around the country, faced similar disruptions.

Even if you try to watch the game via antenna, then the show will appear pixelated. In order to avoid interfering with the signal, antenna users will have to sit very still while watching the game. A dish customer said that “We’re all sitting perfectly still on our sectional so that we don’t disrupt it. It is ridiculous. For the love of the game you do some pretty weird stuff.”

“We’re really huge baseball fans and it’s upsetting that we can’t watch the game clearly,” he added. “These are multi-billion-dollar corporations, probably, having a tantrum with one another, and we’re the ones missing out.”

Tribune Broadcasting’s senior vice president of corporate relations, Gary Weitman, said, “We’re still negotiating but, without getting too much into the weeds, this is difficult.” As of now, Dish customers have to go to neighbors’ homes, bars, or other venues broadcasting Fox Network to watch the games.

Some of the Dish customers, who have missed the games, have expressed their plans to leave the satellite TV network and move to another alternative. Sooner the dispute ends, better for the Dish and the subscribers.

Tribune’s stations blacked out of Dish Network when the satellite TV provider couldn’t come to terms with the fee that Tribune Media asked for broadcasting its stations. According to Dish Network, Tribune was seeking unreasonable fee increase for its local channels, when they are available for free by using an antenna. The satellite broadcaster said that the increased price for WGN America couldn’t be accepted because the rating of the channel has gone down.

 “Tribune is using local viewers as leverage to raise rates for WGN America – a channel that is in decline,” said Warren Schlichting, Executive vice president of programming for Dish Network. However, Weitman argued that “Dish refuses to reach an agreement based on fair-market value.”