Citadel’s Stations, Gol TV Still Off Dish
by Linda Moss -- Multichannel News, 8/11/2008
Gol TV and four Citadel Communications TV stations remained off Dish Network’s lineup at press time Friday, one week after they were dropped by the satellite provider in separate contract disputes.
Gol TV was taken off Dish Network’s roster Aug. 1 after its carriage agreement with the satellite provider expired and the two sides couldn’t come to terms.
Also on Aug. 1, Dish Network said that Citadel “forced” it to remove WHBF-TV, a CBS affiliate in Rock Island, Ill.; WOI-TV, an ABC affiliate serving Des Moines, Iowa; KLKN, an ABC affiliate in Lincoln, Neb.; and KCAU, an ABC affiliate in Sioux City, Iowa, from its roster.
Dish Network’s retransmission-consent agreement with Citadel expired July 31, and both sides have so far been unsuccessful striking a new pact.
The satellite provider claims that the soccer-centric cable network and the TV stations are both seeking unreasonable price increases for their services, a charge that both Gol TV and Citadel deny.
Gol TV has asked its disconnected Dish subscribers to take action by sending e-mail to the network at info@goltv.tv. So far, the network has received more than 1,000 e-mail messages, according to a company spokeswoman.
Gol TV, though, plans to announce today (Aug. 11) that it will launch this week on Time Warner Cable in New York City and in Los Angeles, and across TWC systems in Texas and in the Hudson Valley of New York. In New York City it will join a sports tier (channel 459) and the DTV en Espanol package (channel 820), and in Los Angeles it will join the core Hispanic packages and be on channel 856.
DirecTV dealers have been running print ads targeting disgruntled Dish subscribers in some of the affected Citadel markets, according to a DirecTV spokesman. Those ads have run in Des Moines, Iowa; Lincoln, Neb.; and Quad Cities-Rock Island, Ill.
WOI in Des Moines has been updating its viewers on its dispute with Dish Network via its web site. The station has posted a list of “frequently asked questions” about the fracas, where it says it is continuing “to have a dialogue with Dish” to reach a new agreement.
