CBS programming goes dark on DISH networks

NEW YORK -- After weeks of negotiations over rebroadcasting fees, CBS programming went dark on DISH networks in more than a dozen cities, including New York and Los Angeles.

CBS Corporation announced that as of 7 p.m. ET Friday, programming was no longer available to Dish subscribers in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, Dallas, Denver, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and several other markets.

"CBS has been negotiating a carriage agreement with Dish for six months and has already granted two extensions. During this time, Dish has dragged its feet at our many attempts to negotiate in good faith. Behavior like this is why Dish has a long history of depriving customers of the programing they have paid for," CBS said in statement Friday.

CBS, the parent company of CBSNews.com, and Dish had been locked in negotiations for weeks, twice extending talks in hopes of thrashing out a deal.

The dispute is the latest in a series of clashes in recent years between broadcasters and pay-TV distributors over so-called carriage fees - the fees cable and satellite TV providers pay to rebroadcast programming. Networks want a good deal for their content, with carriage fees seen as an important way to generate revenue growth. On the other side, pay-TV companies are eager to keep costs down.

Not surprisingly, those diverging interests often end in brinkmanship -- and sometimes a blackout.

Earlier this year, for example, DirecTV (DTV) subscribers lost access to The Weather Channel because of a dispute over retransmission fees. In 2013, Time Warner Cable (TWC) dropped CBS' signal in several major markets around the country before the sides eventually struck a new deal.

TV distributors have also periodically threatened to stop carrying the signals of ABC (DIS), Fox (FOXA) and other content providers, although typically an agreement is reached that prevents a blackout.

Carriage fees are a growing source of profit for media companies. SNL Kagan estimates that media companies will earn $7.2 billion in such fees by 2019, up from $3.3 billion last year.

"We are disappointed that CBS has chosen to black out their local channels, but remain optimistic that the channels will return quickly as both sides are continuing to work tonight to finalize an agreement," DISH said Friday.

DISH provided a list of the cities that it said have lost CBS content:

• WUPA-TV, Channel 69 (CW, Atlanta)
• WJZ-TV, Channel 13 (CBS, Baltimore)
• WBZ-TV, Channel 4 (CBS, Boston (Manchester))
• WSBK, Channel 38 (MyTV, Boston (Manchester))
• WBBM-TV, Channel 2 (CBS, Chicago)
• KTVT-TV, Channel 11 (CBS, Dallas-Ft. Worth)
• KTXA-TV, Channel 21 (Independent, Dallas-Ft. Worth)
• KCNC-TV, Channel 4 (CBS, Denver)
• WWJ-TV, Channel 62 (CBS, Detroit)
• WKBD-TV, Channel 50 (CW, Detroit)
• KCBS-TV, Channel 2 (CBS, Los Angeles)
• KCAL-TV, Channel 9 (Independent, Los Angeles)
• WFOR-TV, Channel 4 (CBS, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale)
• WBFS-TV, Channel 33 (MyTV, Miami-Ft. Lauderdale)
• WCCO-TV, Channel 4 (CBS, Minneapolis-St. Paul)
• WCBS-TV, Channel 2 (CBS, New York)
• KYW-TV, Channel 3 (CBS, Philadelphia)
• WPSG-TV, Channel 57 (CW, Philadelphia)
• KDKA-TV, Channel 2 (CBS, Pittsburgh)
• WPCW-TV, Channel 19 (CW, Pittsburgh; also available in Johnstown-Altoona-State College PA)
• KOVR-TV, Channel 13 (CBS, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto)
• KMAX-TV, Channel 31 (CW, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto)
• KPIX-TV, Channel 5 (CBS, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose)
• KBCW-TV, Channel 44 (CW, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose)
• KSTW-TV, Channel 11 (CW, Seattle-Tacoma)
• WTOG-TV, Channel 44 (CW, Tampa-St. Petersburg (Sarasota)