Dish/Morgan Murphy Blackout Temporarily Lifted for Wildfire-Affected Washington State Viewers

Blacked-out Washington state ABC affiliates KVEW Kennewick and KXLY-TV Spokane are back on Dish Network during the wildfire emergency in that state, Dish said Thursday. The stations were among four owned by Morgan Murphy Media that have been blacked out on Dish since Aug. 13 while the two companies are at loggerheads in retransmission consent talks (see 1508180065). In a statement, Warren Schlichting, Dish senior vice president-programming, said, "Now is the time to set aside business and give Dish customers access to local news and information as Washington battles fires in many parts of the state."