Minority Television Project Files Amended Must-Carry Complaint Against Dish

Dish Network violated an FCC order when it didn’t carry KMTP-TV San Francisco at the start of 2021, said the Minority Television Project in an amended complaint (in Pacer) filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on Friday in docket 21-2214. The complaint asks the court to force Dish to carry Minority's KMTP, and is the latest iteration of an ongoing must-carry dispute between the noncommercial educational broadcaster and the satellite MVPD that dates from 2017 (see 1711130057). Minority originally filed in March, but its complaint was dismissed in July for failing to show specific evidence that Dish had violated the must-carry rules by not carrying KMTP, after the FCC ruled in 2019 that broadcasters could electronically inform MVPDs of their must-carry status. The agency rejected a previous must-carry claim by Minority after the broadcaster sent the request using the wrong mail service (see 1801230047). In the amended complaint, Minority argues the FCC ordered Dish to carry the channel in a letter dismissing the NCE’s earlier dispute with Dish as moot after the electronic carriage order. In the July dismissal order (in Pacer) in July, the court said that language from the FCC could be considered “essentially dicta” rather than formal orders. Dish didn't comment.