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Frequently asked questions for DISH customers

By WPXI.com News Staff
By WPXI.com News Staff

1. What is happening?

By law, WPXI-TV must negotiate carriage agreements with satellite companies like DISH. Usually, these deals are reached without any disruption to your service. In fact, our company has negotiated dozens of agreements with only the rarest of disruptions. Unfortunately, so far, DISH has – as they often do - refused to agree to a fair market deal with CMG for the WPXI-TV’s programming and services that customers value. Unfortunately, DISH is notorious for its failure to reach agreements with its stations and for willingly forcing channel blackouts. Because WPXI-TV has yet to secure a deal with DISH, you will lose live access to the shows, sports and local news on WPXI-TV, which you rely on and are paying for. We are hopeful DISH will abandon its well-worn path of blacking out TV stations and come to the negotiating table with CMG.

2. As a DISH customer, what can I do to continue to watch my favorite shows on WPXI-TV?

The best thing viewers can do is Call DISH at 1-800-333-3474. Tell DISH that you pay them a lot of money to watch your favorite shows on WPXI-TV, including Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune, Days of our Lives and Channel 11 News. Tell DISH that if it drops WPXI-TV, then you will drop DISH.

3. Why does WPXI-TV charge cable and satellite operators a fee to carry their programming?

Despite what you may have heard, this dispute is not about WPXI-TV seeking large fees. WPXI-TV is among the highest rated channels on DISH. Producing and broadcasting high rated, top-quality programming is very expensive. We invest millions of dollars in our local news, weather, emergency programming and entertainment content. To keep doing that, we need a fair deal from DISH and all our distributors. We have carriage agreements with every other major cable and satellite company that is carrying WPXI-TV and are seeking to be treated fairly by DISH.

4. Won’t rates to subscribers go up if DISH has to pay WPXI-TV?

Whether rates go up depends on decisions made by DISH. Like all cable and satellite companies, DISH is already charging you to receive WPXI-TV as part of your monthly bill. We do not control how much DISH pays to other channels or how it manages its business. DISH should stop over-paying for channels its customers watch less and prioritize channels like WPXI-TV, that its subscribers turn to every day. We have and will continue to negotiate with DISH in good faith in an effort to successfully complete a deal with them.

6. Since DISH stops carrying WPXI-TV, will I get a refund on my bill?

It is up to DISH to resolve such questions with its customers. But, you could call DISH at 1-800-333-3474 about a refund and let them know you are no longer getting what you pay for -- your favorite programming from WPXI-TV.

7. Is there anything the public can do to help make sure that WPXI-TV is back on DISH?

The best way for you to encourage a resolution is to register your support of how important it is for them to continue to carry WPXI-TV by calling DISH at 800-333-3474. You pay DISH a lot of money. It will listen to your voices.

You can also view WPXI-TV Over the Air with an over the air antenna available at retail. Or you can contact any number of other providers that are committed to providing you with all the programming you watch every day:

Regardless, we will continue to work hard to try and get a successful outcome to this negotiation so that you regain live access to your favorite programming, but the ball remains in DISH’s court to step-up like its competitors and peers have done.

© 2020 Cox Media Group

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