Nothing will come from it, but it felt good to get this off my chest in sending it to my local Tribune station:
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I know this is a decision made at the corporate level and WPMT has little input into the re-transmission negotiations, but I thought it important to let you know that Tribune's handling of this dispute has cost you a viewer.
For what it's worth, watching Fox programming can be done online. I haven't missed any of the network programming - though the convenience of turning on the tv and having it at my fingertips is, admittedly, something that I do miss.
Something that you'll miss come ratings time is my viewing of Fox43 news. I was a faithful viewer of the 10pm news for the past decade and a half. As you know, viewing habits can be hard to change - even when new options are available. I never had any interest in watching channel 15's offering at 10 and channel 8's 10pm offering isn't available on Dish.
Now that Fox43 is dark on Dish, I've sought out the 10pm news on channel 15 and, to my surprise, I find that I rather like the personalities and format. Even if Fox43 News at 10 were to come back to Dish tonight, I doubt that I'll return as a viewer, since I was forced by Tribune to change my routines and now have new viewing habits.
Obviously, I'm not privy to the numbers that the disagreement is about, but it seems to me that a few cents worth of a disagreement with Dish vs. losing a long time viewer for your flagship news program is a losing proposition for the local station.
I have no intentions of moving to DirecTV or Comcast and putting up an antenna is an option that I'll pursue once NFL season starts, but even then - it is doubtful that I'll return to watch Evan and Mary-Ellen and Todd at 10pm.