KWCH 12 and the KSCW have reached an agreement with DISH Network. That means DISH subscribers will continue to watch CBS and CW programming, along with local news.
Terms of the agreement are still being hammered out, but both sides have agreed to keep KWCH 12 and the KSCW on DISH to avoid any disruption to consumers.
Thanks to our viewers for the very positive feedback as we've worked through the discussions
The negotiations went until the last minute, the contract was set to expire at 11 p.m. Thursday. Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc. has now reached agreements with every other cable or satellite provider in our area.
DISH Network was informing subscribers and the public that the dispute was over its “Hopper” device which allows subscribers to bypass commercials when recording certain network programs.
While the company’s “AutoHop” feature has been a source of contention with the major networks, it is not a part of Schurz Communication’s negotiations with DISH. The Senior Vice President of Broadcasting for Schurz Communications, who negotiated this matter, says the first she heard about the device being discussed was when she read about it in DISH Network’s news release.
DISH did announce this week it will increase most monthly subscriber fees by $5 in January. It says it's to cover increased programming costs.
Schurz Communications is the parent company of Sunflower Broadcasting, which operates KWCH and KSCW, among other media sources.
“To keep this in perspective, the disagreement centered around pennies per day,” said Joan Barrett, President and General Manager of Sunflower Broadcasting. “We’ve reached similar compensation agreements with all of our other providers.”
Barrett says the economic model has changed and local affiliates are now paying retransmission agreements to our networks. The fees we are asking from providers which retransmit our signal are nowhere close to other popular channels, such as ESPN, carried by those providers.
The agreements we reached with other providers came in the normal course of business with no disruption to you. We are disappointed that has not been the case with DISH, however, we are not surprised as DISH has been involved in the majority of these types of “stalemates” across the country.
KWCH would like to remind viewers that our signal remains free over the air. All of our newscasts are available for streaming through our website, and many of CBS’s programs are available for streaming through their website.
