Dish Network Satellite Close to Cutting Local Stations

morris@wvgazette.com

Time is running out for talks to keep WCHS and WVAH programming available to Dish Network satellite subscribers.

The contract between Dish parent Echostar Satellite and the stations’ owner, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, expired in June, but the two sides agreed to extend the terms until Aug. 1 in order to keep negotiating.

Even after months of talking, however, negotiators can’t agree, and a statement on Sinclair’s Web site makes clear that a further extension isn’t likely.

“We recently offered to extend the agreement for an additional month to allow us additional time to negotiate with Echostar,” the statement reads, “but Echostar has unfortunately refused to agree to such an extension.”

Officially, both sides say they’re optimistic.

“We are negotiating and we do hope to reach a fair agreement by the end of the month,” said Echostar spokesman Steve Caulk.

Harold Cooper, general manager of WVAH and WCHS, also said he was hopeful.

But the talks have been held up on the same issue for weeks: the terms of operation in one of Sinclair’s 39 markets served by EchoStar, said a source close to the negotiations speaking on condition of anonymity. Charleston is not that market, the source said.

Since a few weeks before the contract formally expired, WVAH and WCHS have been broadcasting a warning, in the form of a line of text along the bottom of the TV screen, saying that the two stations may be pulled. It runs about 10 to 12 times a day.

“In the interim, we want the viewers to know what’s going on,” Cooper said. “Think of it as a forewarning or public service.”

The statement on Sinclair’s Web site encourages subscribers to think about initiating service with their local cable operator or Dish rival DirecTV.

Dish, which entered the Charleston market in 2003, carries programming from ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, WB and PBS, including the networks’ local affiliates.

To contact staff writer Joe Morris, use e-mail or call 348-5179.