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Local CBS affiliate KTVN was yanked off DISH Network’s list of channels late Monday night after failing to come to terms on a new contract with the satellite TV provider.
The signal for KTVN, which broadcasts on channel 2 in the area, was removed from DISH’s service around 11 p.m. Oct. 31 — the last day of its previous contract, said Lawson Fox, KTVN president.
The affiliate broadcasts such CBS programming as Two and a Half Men, The Big Bang Theory, NCIS and Person of Interest. It is also home to the KTVN Channel 2 News Team, which includes local on-air talents Wendy Damonte, Kristen Remington and Mike Alger.
Both camps have been negotiating a new deal for a couple of months, Fox said.
“Our idea was to extend the old agreement for another month while we continued negotiations,” Fox said. “That way, viewers won’t be disrupted. But DISH decided that they didn’t want to do that.”
DISH Network, however, said the temporary extension proposed by KTVN parent company Sarkes Tarzian came with strings attached.
“If it were unconditional, then we would have accepted (the temporary extension),” said DISH spokesperson Aaron Johnson. “But there were conditions in there that I can’t elaborate on. In fact, DISH Network offered Sarkes a contract extension, too, so there is no interruption for customers, but they refused to accept it.”
At the center of the dispute are increased costs for carrying KTVN on DISH Network. While the satellite provider said it’s open to a cost increase, the fee being asked for by KTVN amounts to a 288 percent increase from the last contract, which Johnson described as “unheard of” in the industry. KTVN’s Fox counters that the total fee being asked by the CBS affiliate only amounts to 2 cents per DISH subscriber per day in the area. DISH Network declined to provide its total subscriber numbers to the area, which it considers proprietary information.
“We think 2 cents per customer per day is a fair price … for one of the most-watched channels they have,” Fox said.
DISH, however, said that KTVN’s asking rate is too high when compared to fair market rates.
“It is disingenuous to claim it’s pennies more per day,” Johnson said. “The reality is Sarkes is demanding millions of dollars more beyond what DISH Network pays today to Sarkes over the life of the contract. Their offer would be like demanding $12 for a gallon of milk, then saying it’s only a penny more per sip.”
Although such disputes happen with affiliates across the country, Fox said he does not remember any similar cases occurring in Reno. These kinds of disputes also get settled ultimately, but Fox can’t provide a timetable for when he expects an agreement to be made with DISH.
“It could be a day, a week, a month or more,” Fox said.
KTVN has revised its contract offer downward several times, but DISH rebuffed every attempt so far, Fox added. Still, DISH’s Johnson is optimistic that an agreement will eventually be reached.
“We’re continuing efforts to complete negotiations and come to terms,” Johnson said. “We remain hopeful we can reach a fair agreement.”
Fox agreed.
“I’m sure they don’t want to lose our CBS and local news programming, nor do we want to be out of their service,” Fox said. “The relationship is mutually beneficial. But the marketplace is also changing in terms of the value proposition (for affiliates), and we have to keep pace with that.”
