Update 8pm ET [August 26, 2015]: The blackout ended today following an emergency meeting, as Dish and Sinclair agreed to put the stations back on the air while they continue to negotiate.
"On behalf of more than 5 million consumers nationwide, I am pleased Dish and Sinclair have agreed to end one of the largest blackouts in history and extend their negotiations," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement. "The FCC will remain vigilant while the negotiations continue."
Original story:
Dish Network today said its customers are experiencing "the largest blackout in US television history," all because of a money dispute between Dish and Sinclair Broadcast Group.
129 stations in 36 states and Washington, DC, went dark yesterday afternoon, affecting about 5 million Dish customers. Overall, Sinclair owns or operates 153 stations, with 87 of them being "affiliates of the four major broadcast networks—CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox—meaning customers lost access to local and national news programming as well as sports carried by those stations," The Wall Street Journal reported.
Did the growing trend of cord-cutting spur the emergency meeting, or was it the activity happening outside their windows?
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Saturday August 29 2015, @02:41AM
It's MBA's and the stock market. It's a treadmill for them. If you aren't growing at least as fast as the next guy, you are falling behind, and if you don't catch up, you might as well be out of business. You always have to keep growing, and pumping your stock price, because that is the only thing that matters.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Francis on Saturday August 29 2015, @03:32AM
It's a market failure that exists primarily because we allowed the taxation rates for the right to go too low. Put the income tax rate back at 60% or more and you'll find a lot of this nuttiness stops. People would have to hold their stocks for at least a year in order to avoid a huge tax bill. Which would itself tend to allow for corporations to think at least 3 quarters ahead rather than just the next quarter.