Viewing Audience of KLST and KSAN Reduced by Nexstar's Spat with DISH

SAN ANGELO, TX — Wednesday at 6 p.m., DISH Network removed from its system the network and local community programming provided by KLST and KSAN, two broadcast TV stations owned by Nexstar Inc., stated a press release by Nexstar Media Group, Inc.

"DISH is refusing to reach a new distribution agreement allowing the satellite television behemoth the right to continue airing Nexstar’s highly-rated programming," Nexstar complained. According to the Irving-based broadcaster that owns 164 local TV stations across the nation, DISH also removed Nexstar’s cable network, WGN America, from its system.

DISH claims the impasse affects 115 Nexstar markets.

"As a result, millions of Americans across the country have lost local news, traffic, weather, sports, and entertainment programming as well as critical, up-to-date news regarding the COVID-19 pandemic," stated Nexstar.

Nexstar claimed that in 2020, DISH dropped network or local community programming offered by The E.W. Scripps Company, Apollo, Mission Broadcasting, the NFL Network, and 21 regional sports networks.

Is the large corporate broadcasting concern in good company?

DISH doesn't think so. The satellite broadcast video programming network that carried Nexstar stations until Wednesday night, in addition to a wide-ranging choice of other video programming, fired back.

"We made a fair offer to keep Nexstar stations available to our customers, but Nexstar rejected it," said Brian Neylon, Group President, DISH TV. "Earlier today, we offered to extend the current contract and hold subscribers harmless while negotiations continue — once at 11:53am MST and again at 3:11pm MST — but Nexstar never responded. We don't understand why Nexstar insists on prioritizing greed above American viewers, many of whom rely on local programming for their news and entertainment, especially during this global pandemic."

Dish stated that in recent years, Nexstar went on a $12 billion local broadcast station buying spree "to become the largest and most powerful station owner in the country."

"Now that Nexstar is the biggest in the industry, it is strong-arming companies like DISH to pay outrageous rates and force unprecedented [price] increases onto customers. In its latest move, the broadcaster has blacked out its stations from DISH customers to gain negotiation leverage in an effort to line its wallet with viewers' hard-earned money — a tactic it used last year against DirecTV and AT&T U-verse," Dish stated.

DISH claimed Nexstar is demanding $1 billion in fees.

"This shocking increase is the largest we have ever seen," Neylon stated.

DISH said that another block for reaching an agreement is Nexstar's insistence that Dish also carry the WGN TV channel, a programming option DISH views as subpar. WGN is a "channel that has experienced declining viewership in recent years. Nexstar acquired this channel when it bought Tribune last year. Now, the broadcast owner is looking to DISH customers to pay back this investment. Nexstar is demanding a significant payment for this low-rated channel that airs syndicated reruns found on other DISH stations and features a news program that can be accessed for free online," Dish said.

The exact number of DISH subscribers in the Concho Valley — or San Angelo Designated Market Area (DMA) — was not known Wednesday. At the beginning of 2015, estimates were that there were approximately 17,000 DirecTV subscribers in our DMA. AT&T's DirecTV is the slightly larger competing satellite product of DISH's. The national trend is real, that consumers are cutting the cord even with satellite programming providers, so the number of DISH subscribers likely is in the thousands, not tens of thousands. Indeed, DISH is reported to have lost nearly 4 million subscribers from 2015 until 2019.

Still, the impact locally is significant. The San Angelo DMA has just over 50,000 homes with a TV, according to Nielsen. Based upon all of this data, an argument can be made that the impact of the DISH blackout of KLST and KSAN could remove 10 to 12 percent of each station's potential viewing audience here. 

DISH claimed in its press release it had 5.4 million subscribers nationwide who are impacted by the Nexstar versus DISH spat.