DISH subscribers may lose WAVY-10,WVBT-43

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By Philip Walzer
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 5, 2011

A contract dispute might knock WAVY-TV (Channel 10) and WVBT-TV (Fox43) off the air for DISH Network subscribers early today.

In a news release, DISH accused LIN Media, which owns the local stations, of "demanding more than a 140 percent rate hike and other burdensome contract terms that ultimately will result in higher prices for consumers."

LIN Media's president and CEO, Vincent Sadusky, said in a statement: "Our highly rated television stations are important assets to our local communities, and it is unfortunate that DISH does not recognize their fair-market value."

The transmission contract is set to expire 2 a.m. today.

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More money

Submitted by jjdes on Mon, 03/07/2011 at 4:58 pm.

A bunch of corporate bigwigs fighting over a few dollars more. The price is that I cannot watch their stations until I pay more money...I hope they all go the way of the dinosaurs...

Loosing WAVY 10

Submitted by Nancy Crowell on Sat, 03/05/2011 at 3:44 pm.

I am surprise that Lin wants such a rate increase and not returnig DISH calls. I watched channel 10 a lot. Loosing DISH customers will cause their rating to go down not to speak of the loss of revenue from advertising. I thought WAVY was suppose to be on out side but that is not the case. All Lin wants is Money.

Annoying banner...

Submitted by marks57720 on Sat, 03/05/2011 at 2:41 pm.

Please get rid of that annoying banner...it certainly doesn't affect me and I will not pay to watch that silly banner scroll across the top of my screen and interrupt my viewing!!!

LIN Media just blinked

Submitted by Mr. Wizard on Sat, 03/05/2011 at 2:01 pm.

These stations are granted licenses by the Federal government using public airwaves. This is a brazen attempt to extract money for local programming from a private company.

Guess corporate forgot they are supposed to serve in the public's "interest, convenience and necessity". It's the public's airwaves.

Next time they are in front of the FCC for their station renewals, I'll bet NONE of the folks on this thread will have any input (written) into them getting their Television license renewed, which is a permit to print money.

This is about money and power, not programming, both of which Lin Media are losing by the day.

Time for some Hulu.

Charge all ya want...

Submitted by Craig Paskewic on Sat, 03/05/2011 at 1:48 pm.

...we can still obtain those signals out of the air for the cost of powering a digital antenna.

Actually

Submitted by Phil Lowe on Sat, 03/05/2011 at 8:37 pm.

I have an HD 1080p Hi Def Television. I set the input to 'antenna' and plug in a set of rabbit ears I bought in 1980 and I get 1080i thru the air. The only one of the local 3 I get 720p is channel 43-1 Fox. You don't need a 'digital' antenna in town. The picture is excellent. And just FYI channel 27-2 is a terrific station that shows all the old TV shows, like in the vein of Nick At Nite.

No NBC for Dish Subscribers

Submitted by reedy1957 on Sat, 03/05/2011 at 1:30 pm.

I agree with so many others that the outrageous cost WAVY 10 is asking Dish Network to pay is ridiculous. They need to be reasonable. We are all stressed to the max with the economy but come on! I guess we'll just not watch it or get the old antenna out so it's free.

We've always watched WAVY 10 for local news and NBC network, but they will be losing many Dish subscribers due to this unfortunate decision. Bad choice especially in this economy. Can they really afford to lose so many customers? I guess we'll see.

Online Alternatives....

Submitted by JenniferWeb on Sat, 03/05/2011 at 1:10 pm.

All these broadcast disputes are silly. You would think that they'd want as many people as possible watching their commercials! Another way is to watch TV online through sites like the http://TVDevo website. They offer live and recorded TV shows from around the world.