Dish and Fisher Reach Agreement (Press Release)

[Scott Greczkowski]

DISH Network® and Fisher Communications, Inc. Reach

Multi-Year Carriage Agreement

Fisher Stations Return to DISH Network

ENGLEWOOD, Colo., and SEATTLE, Wash. – June 11, 2009 – DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH) and Fisher Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSCI) today announced that they have reached a multi-year agreement that provides for the distribution of Fisher stations in seven markets on DISH Network. As part of the agreement, ongoing litigation between the two companies was ended.

“We are pleased we were able to reach an agreement with Fisher to return these channels to our subscribers,” said Charlie Ergen, Chairman, President and CEO of DISH Network. “We thank our customers for their patience during this negotiation process.”

“We recognize the important role that we play in the community through our news and programming and we are pleased to renew our partnership with DISH Network, which will allow us to continue serving our local viewers and customers,” said Colleen B. Brown, Fisher’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “We truly appreciate the patience of our loyal viewers and business partners and regret any inconvenience they may have encountered as we worked to put this new agreement in place.”

The Fisher stations that returned to DISH Network are: KOMO and KUNS in Seattle, Wash.; KATU and KUNP in Portland, Ore.; KIMA in Yakima, Wash.; KVAL in Eugene, Ore.; KBCI in Boise, Idaho; KIDK in Idaho Falls, Idaho; and KBAK and KBFX in Bakersfield, Calif. DISH Network restored the service to their customers at 10:25 p.m. PST on June 10.

[jmccurrytech]

and in other news, the CEO of All American Direct is sobbing in his office over potential lost revenue

[mikew]

I wonder if this is the last hurrah for the local station owners sticking it to the sat providers. I would certainly have been quite angry over losing a local channel in this manner.

[david_jr]

Originally Posted by mikew

I wonder if this is the last hurrah for the local station owners sticking it to the sat providers. I would certainly have been quite angry over losing a local channel in this manner.

It looks as though the same thing is about to happen to people with Freedom Communication stations. They are threatening to pull all SD stations if DISH refuses their offer for carriage of HD stations.

[birkoff]

So who blinked? My guess is Fisher blinked, but when you get a warm
fuzzy press release you don't know. I wrote 5 letters to KATU's GM,
Fisher's CEO, my inept Congressman, and filed a FCC complaint because
KATU denied my All American Direct request (those guys really are cheats, they
take your money and then deny you).

[navychop]

Thank you, Charlie!

[Jeff0575]

good one charlie looks like you got the extra money from aad instead of fisher. now they get to charge 24.99 per month just for 4 hd channels.