Dish Network Asks Tribune Media To Allow Arbitrator To Solve Fee Dispute

(RTTNews) - Dish Network Corp. (DISH) has asked Tribune Broadcasting Co. (TRCO) to allow for arbitration to determine the fair market value of their channels and end the blackout of its stations.

DISH has also requested Tribune to restore its channels on DISH for "the benefit of innocent consumers" until the process.

About 5 million Dish subscribers across 33 markets are not receiving Tribune's 42 stations and cable network WGN America since Sunday evening.

"We want to return these local stations to our customers immediately, and binding, baseball-style arbitration offers a path to reach a fair deal and to serve the best interests of our customers," said Warren Schlichting, Dish executive VP of programming.

Dish is distributing free over-the-air antennas to subscribers so they can watch the Tribune stations over the air.

"Our solution to offer free over-the-air antennas to impacted consumers has been tremendously successful, and provided consumers with a meaningful option to fight back against the unreasonable demands of broadcasters whose primary goal should be to serve the very consumers that they are using as pawns to gain negotiating leverage," said Schlichting.