Lilly Broadcasting Blocks Channels to DISH Customers in Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, & Markets in Pennsylvania, New York...
September 30 2017 - 7:57PM
Business Wire
- Lilly turns back on public interest
obligations during humanitarian crisis –uses catastrophe to create
‘deal leverage’
- Lilly rejects DISH offer to extend
contract, including retroactive ‘true-up’ for new rates, which
would keep national news and information available in Puerto Rico
and U.S. Virgin Islands while negotiations continue
- Broadcaster fees will rise to $12.8
billion by 2023, estimates SNL Kagan
The following is a news release from DISH:
This evening, Lilly Broadcasting blacked out DISH customers’
access to its stations in Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and
three other markets in New York, Pennsylvania and Hawaii after the
two companies were unable to establish viable economic terms for a
renewed retransmission agreement. The broadcaster is demanding from
DISH and, by extension, its customers unreasonable rate increases
higher than the current DISH rate. Lilly has also refused DISH’s
offer to match the rates paid by other pay-TV providers.
Lilly is blacking out the following stations from DISH customers
in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands:
- One Caribbean Television (Puerto
Rico)
- WSEEP-TV (CBS, Puerto Rico and U.S.
Virgin Islands)
- WENY-VI (ABC, U.S. Virgin Islands)
“Lilly is further blinding the citizens of Puerto Rico and the
U.S. Virgin Islands at this time, showing an unbelievable lack of
compassion,” said Warren Schlichting, executive vice president of
Marketing, Programming and Media Sales. “During this humanitarian
crisis, it’s critical for people to have access to more
information, not less, whether one home or 10,000 can access these
stations.”
These stations are among the few broadcast sources that offer
national news and information from the continental U.S. to DISH
customers in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. DISH offered
a short-term contract extension to Lilly that would include a
retroactive true-up when new rates are agreed upon, and would
preserve the ability of DISH customers to access Lilly’s stations
while negotiations continued. The true-up would ensure that Lilly
is made whole at the new rates for the period of any contract
extension.
“DISH offered to extend the contract, but Lilly rejected it,”
said Schlichting. “Lilly had nothing to lose and consumers had
everything to gain by accepting our extension and leaving the
channels up.”
Lilly is blacking out the following stations from DISH
customers:
- One Caribbean Television (Puerto
Rico)
- WSEEP-TV (CBS, Puerto Rico and U.S.
Virgin Islands)
- WENY-VI (ABC, U.S. Virgin Islands)
- WENY-TV (ABC, Elmira)
- WENYD-TV (CBS, Elmira)
- WBEP-TV (CW, Erie)
- WICU-TV (NBC, Erie)
- WSEE-TV (CBS, Erie)
- KITV-TV (ABC, Honolulu)
- KITV2-TV (MeTV, Honolulu)
Need for Retransmission Consent Reform
“Lilly’s decision to cut ties with DISH customers is a prime
example of why Washington needs to stand up for consumers and end
local channel blackouts,” said R. Stanton Dodge, DISH executive
vice president and general counsel. “Broadcasters like Lilly use
their in-market monopoly power to put profits ahead of the public
interests they are supposed to serve.”
Along with other pay-TV companies and public interest groups
that form the American Television Alliance, DISH has called for the
U.S. Congress to revamp the out-of-date laws that favor these high
fees and unnecessary blackouts.
Dodge continued: “We continue to urge the FCC and Congress to
update a system that emboldens broadcasters to black out
consumers.”
Rising Retransmission Rates
Each year, the cost to carry local broadcast stations rises far
beyond the rate of inflation, leading to blackouts across the
country that affect millions of subscribers of various pay-TV
companies. According to SNL Kagan, a leading source on the media
industry, broadcast fees burdening pay-TV consumers are expected to
reach an unprecedented $9.3 billion in 2017. These same rates, for
channels available free over the air, were as low as $215 million
in 2006, soared to $7.9 billion in 2016 and are expected to reach
$12.8 billion in 2023.
DISH customers can visit DISHPromise.com for more information
and to ask the FCC and Congress to end TV blackouts.
About DISH
DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH), through its subsidiaries,
provides approximately 13.332 million pay-TV subscribers, as of
June 30, 2017, with the highest-quality programming and technology
with the most choices at the best value. DISH offers a high
definition line-up with more than 200 national HD channels, the
most international channels and award-winning HD and DVR
technology. DISH Network Corporation is a Fortune 200 company.
Visit www.dish.com.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170930005019/en/
DISH Network Corp.John Hall, 720-514-5351news@dish.com
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