Don’t look now, media business drama lovers, but it’s blackout season, with the prospect of missed college and pro football games presenting a natural incentivizer to get carriage and retrans deals done.
Early out of the gate is a regional kerfuffle in Central Oregon, with BendBroadband-owned CBS affiliate KBNZ and ABC affiliate KOHD blacked out on Dish Network since last week.
“Despite our good faith efforts, Dish Network dropped your local ABC and CBS stations,” said the stations’ joint local news platform, Central Oregon Daily News, in a statement posted on July 26. Dish subscribers are directed on the page to access the channels via “off-air antenna,” or through competing local pay TV providers DirecTV or TDS Telecom.
BendBroadband purchased the stations back in 2013 through its Zolo Media unit.
And it’s certainly not the first time these stations have been blacked out on Dish Network, as this 2010 retrans battle shows.
