Dish has no reason to complain, they are raising the rates for HD programming fee 100%(!!) for it's service. Why don't you post something justifying that next week??

Dish and Fisher Broadcasting need to act like adults and negotiate a reasonable settlement. Viewers are being penalized by this outrageous spat between the two companies. Dish may end up losing business because of this.

I've been digging into this dispute as deep as I can go and what I've discovered is startling. On Dish, we pay something like $5.99 for the Local package per month. It turns out that the monthly fee per viewer paid to the local stations you get for that is far less than the industry average of 35 cents per channel. Usually all local channel viewership surpasses that of all the top 40 national ones in that list. (Think about it, you tune in to your local news, talk shows, soaps, or game shows and so on far more frequently than all the others - most people do.) So, if you only get maybe a few stations for that $5.99, and they only pay a few cents for you to watch then, then I think we just found the Dish "Cash Cow"!

Honestly, a few cents additional on my bill each month for each local channel isn't going to make a dent in my pocketbook. Dish, get with the program settle for the reasonable fee Fisher is asking for!

In the meantime, if no agreement is reached in a timely manner, I do plan to drop my contract with Dish (due to their breach of contract for not carrying a major local channel) and get set up with DirectTV.

(My source for the amount of the monthly fee is Larry Roberts, Regional VP of Fisher Communications, citing the Fisher lawyers, who said he could say, "The fee we’re asking from DISH is only a fraction of what DISH pays for these other less popular services that have considerably fewer viewers.")

I'm a Dish customer caught in this ridiculous Catch 22. With FCC rules the only ABC station that can be broadcast in the Seattle market is Fisher Broadcastings KOMO 4 Station. The strategy of the combatants seems to be to pit the consumer against the other party in the conflict and try to use them to bring pressure to bear to make a deal. The fact there is now a $1,000,000 lawsuit by Fisher against Dish for another dispute pretty much assures us that there will be no ABC channels available on DISH in the area in the immediate future. A few months ago, I signed a contract to get updated equipment from Dish and am obligated for the remainder of a 2 year contract if I leave them. They basically charge a $10 per month remaining cancellation fee so I'd be out $170 bucks to move somewhere else. I've been in communication with both Dish and KOMO and have received a response from the Fisher CEO that was specific to my concerns. My basic point was, you've got business issues to work out but don't screw the consumers. They offer their condolences but no solutions. I fear this will end up being expensive to many who have to opt out of the Dish contract to get the ABC programming. I've contacted the FCC and complained, asking for some sort of variance to bring any other ABC coverage into this market but it ain't going to happen. Guess the only other option would be the Attorney General's office. I truly believe any provider in a market has an obligation to provide the primary channels as part of their suite of products and when they advertise that they carry local channels they need to carry these. If they aren't able to comply, they should not be allowed to offer their services in the market.

Why will the FCC not allow us to choose which network stations we get? I live in Oregon but get Yakima, WA networks. I would much prefer to have Portland stations. The local cable companies offer both Yakima/Tri Cities, WA and Portland networks here locally?

dish HAS to pay the money fischer can charge and amount, fischer saw they are gonna lose more money in lost customers who switch to get that channel than they are gonna lose to the higher price so why not jack it up

I was looking for info and found this blog. FYI...I just spoke to a DISH network rep and she told me there are rumors around their company that MORE stations are going to go off the air as of tomorrow ( 1.14.09 ). Up until now I was pretty happy with DISH but the I can't take the chance of not being able to see the Super Bowl. Yes...that's part of the office gab...that the stations that carry the Super Bowl will be off the air. Grrrrrrrrr. I hate chage but Directv here I come.