DISH may drop the CBS affiliate for the Huntington/Charlston WV market June 30 or July 1

[andy_horton]

The station and Dish are still in talks, but the scroll at the bottom of WOWK tv channel 13 states sometime this weekend. It also said they have been in talks since April. Adios AMC and I guess WOWK (for now).

 

[Stargazer]

Well that sucks. The guy that owns the station lives only about 5 miles from me.

 

[Mr Tony]

looks like its all the WV Media holdings stations
West Virginia Media Holdings - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The group owns WOWK-TV in Huntington, WVNS-TV in Lewisburg, and WTRF-TV in Wheeling, West Virginia, which are all affiliated with the CBS network; and WBOY-TV in Clarksburg which is affiliated with NBC. WVNS and WTRF also carry Fox on their DTV subchannels (Fox West Virginia and Fox Ohio Valley, respectively), while both subchannels carry MyNetworkTV in addition to Fox as a secondary affiliate.

 

[EatMyVolts]

The fun and games continue .

In all likelihood both sides will pound their chests, call each other liars, and otherwise misbehave. If it even goes to the point of dropping the station(s) they will probably settle this quietly in a few days.

 

[Mr Tony]

looks like in one market it could be 3 stations...CBS, ABC and Fox

CBS Network Affiliates:
WOWK · WTRF · WVNS

Fox Network Affiliates:
WTRF-DT2 · WVNS-DT2
MyNetworkTV Affiliate:
WTRF-DT2* · WVNS-DT2*

NBC Network Affiliate:
WBOY

ABC Network Affiliate:
WBOY-DT2 · WTRF-DT3

 

[videonex]

Like I always say in these situations, eventually the station owner loses. Station coverage area comes first and anything that reduces that coverage is a negative for the stations involved despite what the station owner may think he's gonna make extra from the increased retrans fees.

 

[Tampa8]

Going by past history both with Dish and other carriers for the most of the time this happens, this won't last too long.

 

[Stargazer]

It's still on the air. I was hoping it would not go down this weekend after the horrible storm that came through here. They give more weather coverage than the other television stations have. We have had two bad weather events in the last four months.

 

[Stargazer]

Looks like they dropped the station today. They got this message stating that this station is currently blocked by its owner, who is demanding an outrageous rate increase in excess of 200%. To keep costs down for our customers, DISH is striving to reach a fair deal. DISH has reached agreements with hundreds of local stations in the past year, so we know our offer is fair and in line with the marketplace. For more information, please visit Fair Satellite

 

[davhamer]

I wonder if WYMT in Hazard, KY is considered Huntington/Charleston, WV or Lexington, KY. Maybe they could replace WOWK with WYMT. Maybe that would get WOWK's attention.

 

[videonex]

I wonder if WYMT in Hazard, KY is considered Huntington/Charleston, WV or Lexington, KY. Maybe they could replace WOWK with WYMT. Maybe that would get WOWK's attention.

They can't do that. What will happen is the local stations will see a reduction in local ad sales and requests for refunds due to the decreased coverage of the stations. This is what will get the station owner's attention and cause a resolution. The lost ad revenue will always be more than the increased revenue from the retransmission fees. As Dish, DirecTv and the cable companies have started to learn, letting the station cut off their signal is the most effective way to resolve the issue. Station owners are slower learners, it appears.

 

[eacalhoun]

This is very unfortunate for satellite viewers in West Virginia. In most cases, satellite is the only way to get local channels. The terrain makes OTA reception very poor - one can live just a few miles from a TV station's tower, but if you're on the "wrong" side of the mountain or in a deep mountain valley a rooftop antenna is useless. I would also think that cable TV is not an option - because of the sparse population in rural areas, cable simply isn't available.

 

[Mr Tony]

I wonder if WYMT in Hazard, KY is considered Huntington/Charleston, WV or Lexington, KY. Maybe they could replace WOWK with WYMT. Maybe that would get WOWK's attention.

2 things why they can't
-WYMT is in the Lexington Market
-WYMT is not on satellite

well a 3rd....Dish cannot import any station into a different market unless that market does not have that affiliate. Retransmission issues do not allow a provider to import a different station

 

[ippymiss]

we just lost these stations...there goes NASCAR............!
CBS Network Affiliates:
WOWK · WTRF · WVNS

Fox Network Affiliates:
WTRF-DT2 · WVNS-DT2
MyNetworkTV Affiliate:
WTRF-DT2* · WVNS-DT2*

 

[Stargazer]

They had an hour special on the bad weather. That is what I always liked about this station, they tried to have extensive weather coverage. The other stations do as well if the weather is significant enough but don't seem to have near the coverage.

They have added the following on their site ...

Now, West Virginia Media has indicated that if DISH doesn't accept its outrageous demands they are going to raise the price every day until we do. This is simply no way to negotiate in good faith.

So it looks like the channel will be off the air for a while or its just a tactic to try to get Dish to cave. I've talked to the owner before and know he is cheap.

 

[videonex]

They have added the following on their site ...

Now, West Virginia Media has indicated that if DISH doesn't accept its outrageous demands they are going to raise the price every day until we do. This is simply no way to negotiate in good faith.

So it looks like the channel will be off the air for a while or its just a tactic to try to get Dish to cave. I've talked to the owner before and know he is cheap.

As soon as he realizes that he is going to lose more money by not being on Dish as opposed to his outrageous fees, he'll cave. There was one of these disputes recently involving a group of stations in Texas and Time Warner Cable. It was almost 3 months but as usual the station owners finally realized who needed who more and cut the necessary deal.

 

[Stargazer]

I know that WOWK needs Dish more than Dish needing them. WSAZ is the most watched news in this market and WOWK probably the least watched. They just went HD with their news with their new set so they are probably trying to cover the cost of it.

As posted on WOWKTV's website:

ATTENTION DISH SUBSCRIBERS

WOWK and DISH NETWORK have been negotiating to provide for continued carriage on DISH. Unfortunately, we have not yet reached an agreement and WOWK has been removed from DISH. WOWK has made several offers to reach an agreement, but DISH has failed to recognize the value of our programming to you the subscriber.

We are not asking a lot. We know that the average DISH bill runs about $40 and $80 each month, yet DISH refuses to pay just 2 or 3 cents in order to provide you with the valuable programming that this station and its digital channels deliver to you each day. It's important to note that WOWK does not keep this money. These fees go directly to the networks in order to support the quality of our entertainment, news, and sports programming. In addition, WOWK provides local jobs to local people, we cover local news specific to the community and invest heavily toward the betterment of the community.

As a result, you may want to make plans to contact an alternative service provider or attach a VHF/UHF antenna to your digital sets (or to a converter box for your analog sets) in order to continue to receive your favorite news, sports, weather and entertainment from WOWK and the WOWK Network. We hope that this inconvenience is only temporary, and we appreciate your continued support.



ACTION STEP



Call DISH NETWORK at 1-800-333-3474 AND TELL THEM TO KEEP WOWK AND THE WOWK NETWORK ON THEIR SYSTEM.



ALTERNATIVE RECEPTION METHODS



1. FREE OVER-THE-AIR RECEPTION: Most local locations can receive WOWK's free over-the-air signal. You will need a VHF/UHF antenna hooked up to your digital television set. If you have an older, analog television set, you will need to hook a VHF/UHF antenna to a digital-to-analog converter box and then connect the converter box to your analog television set. You will need to rescan the channel settings to receive all of the available channels in your area.



2. SATELLITE RECEPTION: WOWK's signal is available on DIRECTV. New customers may call them directly at 1-888-777-2454.



3. CABLE TELEVISION: WOWK's signal is available on the following cable systems:

 

[SamCdbs]

It is insulting to the intelect for WOWK's management to tell people to buy an antenna. I would say that less than 15% of this huge market's residents can get any TV station OTA.

 

[davhamer]

2 things why they can't
-WYMT is in the Lexington Market
-WYMT is not on satellite

well a 3rd....Dish cannot import any station into a different market unless that market does not have that affiliate. Retransmission issues do not allow a provider to import a different station

I wasn't sure if WYMT was in the Lexington market or not. The area where I am is close to three different DMA's. I know WYMT is not on the bird, but their parent station, WKYT is and the same owner owns the NBC affiliate in Huntington WV. WSAZ. It would be not too difficult to throw it up there. But since WYMT is in Lexington DMA, I guess it's a mute point. .

 

[Tampa8]

No, you can still talk about it. It may be a moot point though...... Sorry, couldn't resist. Been there, done that.