As of midnight, April 30, 2008, WBRZ will no longer be available on DISH Network's local channel lineup. WBRZ continues to negotiate with DISH Network in good faith, hoping to reach a fair agreement as soon as possible.

The relationship between WBRZ and the Dish Network began to deteriorate in the Fall of 2007, when WBRZ realized that fees collected from Baton Rouge subscribers were not paid to the station since the inception of Dish Network’s local-into-local service which was May of 2006. That was in violation of the carriage agreement.

When the contract expired in March of 2007, WBRZ insisted that the Dish Network be more attentive to business practices and to bring the level of compensation to less than 5% of what they collect from their subscribers for the local broadcast signals. WBRZ requested less than a penny a day versus the twenty cents a day they collect from local subscribers in the Baton Rouge market. Dish Network believes the content, news, weather, sports and ABC Television Network seen exclusively on WBRZ is valued at 2% of what they collect for local TV stations. WBRZ recognizes this as a terrible oversight to the value WBRZ brings to the Dish Network line up of networks.

Since Dish Network already charges customers $5.99 a month for the local service, the 20 cents WBRZ requests should have no effect on the monthly bill. It would, however, have a minimal effect on Dish Network’s profits which were up significantly in the last two years.

Dish subscribers may continue to receive the WBRZ analog and digital signals, free of charge, with an antenna. The WBRZ high-definition signal is also available through other cable services. Viewers may also receive the analog signal with DirecTV.

WBRZ apologizes for any inconveniences this may cause our viewers who choose to continue subscribing to the Dish Network service. WBRZ is open to your comments. To contact us, please call us at 225-336-2225 or email us at [email protected].

If you wish to speak to DISH Network, you may contact it at 1-888-284-7116. You can send Dish Network comments directly to [email protected].