WABI clashes with DISH Network over blackout
WABI-TV, a Bangor-based CBS and CW affiliate, has been blacked out for DISH Network subscribers after the two companies reached an impasse over contract negotiations.
The Bangor Daily News reported that WABI and DISH are blaming each other for the blackout, which impacts the TV station’s WABI-TV 5 and WABI DT2 channels.
Details of the contract negotiations are not being disclosed because of a confidentiality agreement, but the primary conflicts revolve around how much WABI is compensated and how many counties in Maine receive either of the station’s two channels.
DISH said in a Wednesday press release that WABI “has blocked DISH customers’ access” to the two channels because the station uses its “in-market monopoly to put profits ahead of the public interests they are supposed to serve,” referring to WABI’s request for an increased reimbursement rate, which was last set five years ago.
Mike Young, vice president and general manager of WABI’s operator, told the BDN that DISH’s statement was “absurd” and indicated that WABI’s request for increased compensation could be easily misrepresented.
He said the larger issue is that DISH is proposing to cut WABI service in three of the nine counties where its channels are currently available, which would essentially eliminate service for “thousands” of DISH subscribers.
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