Pay-TV provider Dish has endorsed broadcaster Sinclair's campaign to encourage consumers to adopt free-to-air TV services. Sinclair recently started with the National Association of Broadcasters, Antennas Direct and TVfreedom.org the 'Broadcast TV Liberation Tour' to hand out free antennas for over-the-air TV.
Dish said the move makes sense as consumers are frustrated with the high retransmission fees for receiving local broadcast stations over pay-TV. The FTA services can also complement the emerging OTT services such as Dish's Sling TV, Sony's Vue or Netflix, the company said.
Dish said this "may drive a solution to the otherwise compounding problem of ever-rising retransmission consent fees for local TV". The pay-TV provider has been fighting the higher retransmission fees in a number of disputes with broadcasters, some of which have led to Dish customers going without certain channels for a time.
Dish distributed USD 7 million worth of FTA antennas to affected customers this summer after Tribune Broadcasting blacked out its stations for Dish customers on 12 June. The company said it recently returned to negotiations with Tribune and hopes still to reach an agreement.
Dish claims the cost to carry local broadcast stations rises far beyond the rate of inflation, at more than 225 percent over the past five years. According to market researcher SNL Kagan, broadcast fees will reach a record USD 7.7 billion in 2016. These same rates, for channels available free over the air, were just USD 215 million in 2006, Dish said.
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