Contract disagreement leads to TV-station blackout
When Northwest Montana DISH Network subscribers turn to the NBC station, instead of programming they now see a static blue screen and a message that begins “Bonten Media Group has blocked your access to this channel.”
For the first time in its history, NBC Montana has been unable to renew its agreement with a television provider before the contract deadline.
“It’s never happened to our company, but it’s not uncommon around the country,” NBC Montana General Manager Dick Reingold said of the current contract dispute.
While negotiations between the Bonten Media Group and DISH continue, NBC Montana — which is owned by Bonten Media Group — is still broadcasting as usual. DirecTV and cable customers will not be affected, nor will those viewers who receive the NBC Montana signal through an antenna.
At the heart of the service disruption is how much NBC Montana — of which Kalispell’s KCFW is a part — is asking to be paid by DISH for its programming. As part of its onscreen message, DISH writes that “Bonten is demanding 3 times more than their current rate for the same content you already have.”
Reingold said that this figure is misleading.
“When you’re dealing with small numbers, percentages can be made to look large though they’re much less than the actual money involved. What we’re asking is a couple pennies per day per subscriber per month.”
Reingold, who is based in Missoula, compares what NBC Montana is requesting to what DISH pays for ESPN. He said his company is asking less than 20 percent of what ESPN is given for its content, despite the fact that NBC has “great programming,” too, including popular sports programs such as NFL “Sunday Night Football” and the upcoming Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.
“We’re a small company and we own a few small TV stations, while DISH is a large multibillion-dollar company,” he said. “With the economic model of local TV, this revenue is very important to us. Without fair market compensation we wouldn’t be the same TV station.”
Reingold said NBC Montana regrets the inconvenience to DISH customers in its markets in Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman and related areas, as well as its advertisers. He couldn’t say how many people are affected.
“We apologize but we have to get fair compensation or we won’t be able to provide the same level of programming,” he said. “The TV business has really changed in recent years. It wasn’t that long ago that stations were paid by networks to carry their programming; today it’s the other way around. We have great expenses in paying for network programming.”
The DISH Network’s on-screen message offers a website address, dishvaluepledge.com, where customers can find more information about the situation.
On the site, DISH makes its case this way:
“Bonten is demanding an unreasonable rate increase which is three times more than what we previously paid to carry this channel. DISH offered to match the rates paid by other pay-TV providers and to pay the same rate we pay other broadcasters; however, Bonten refused this offer. We even offered an extension so customers would not be impacted by these negotiations; Bonten also refused this offer. We remain committed to reaching an agreement. We are working around the clock to reach a fair and reasonable agreement with Bonten.”
How long the negotiations and the blackout will last is anyone’s guess, Reingold said.
“It could be a short amount of time or it could be longer,” he said. “We hope it ends as soon as possible, that’s the only answer.”