A dispute over retransmission consent terms between Grant Communications
and Dish Network has shut off the Grant stations' signal in Roanoke, Huntsville,
Davenport and LaCrosse (Wis.). Four Fox affiliates, two CW outlets and one
MyNetworkTV station are affected. The station signals went dark early in the
morning Feb. 16; looming for the Fox affiliates is the Daytona 500 telecast Feb
24.
A statement on the WZDX Huntsville homepage read in part:
"Please rest assured our entire management staffs are
working around the clock, trying to come to an agreement with the Dish Network
comparable to all our other cable agreements. However, Dish continues to not
answer our phone calls or meet with our negotiating team, dragging out the
process at their own pace."
"We are disappointed that Grant has chosen to be unreasonable in its
demands, as many Dish customers in the Grant markets enjoy their Fox
programming," said Sruta Vootukuru, Dish director of
programming. "Grant's request that Dish pay three times what it
paid just over a year ago is well beyond market rates, and we hope
Grant will become more reasonable so we can make these channels
available to our customers."
Said Debbie Reardon, Grant's director of marketing, "We
hope to have a solution at any moment."
