Dish, CMG Blame Each Other in Blackout, After TRO End

Dish Network and Cox Media Group blamed each other for 14 local CMG stations in 10 markets going dark on Dish's lineup Wednesday after the end of a temporary restraining order previously awarded to Dish. U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin of Chicago earlier this week rejected Dish's ask for a temporary restraining order against Cox pending U.S. Circuit Court appeal (in Pacer, docket 20-CV-00570). Dish said CMG rejected an offer of extending the current carriage agreement at higher rates while the two negotiate, but the programmer demanded a 40% rate increase. Stations in Georgia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Washington and Oklahoma went dark, Dish said. Dish is appealing to the 7th Circuit Durkin's earlier denial of a motion for a preliminary injunction and dissolving a TRO against CMG. The MVPD sued CMG and Apollo Global Management alleging breach of contract for Dish's retransmission of the local TV signals of CMG stations. CMG said Dish's "misguided efforts [are] to avoid agreeing to reach a fair market carriage agreement." It said Dish pulled the CMG stations, and it offered an extension so they could continue to negotiate.