Local Fox station hires former AG King in battle with DISH
12:23 AM, May. 14, 2011
Written by
Rick Harmon
rharmon@gannett.com
After the DISH Network dropped Montgomery's WCOV-TV, leaving thousands of Central Alabama subscribers without access to FOX programming, there were harsh words and accusations but a stated belief that it was only a temporary disruption.Ten days later, WCOV is still off DISH and the battle is escalating.
WCOV has hired former Alabama Attorney General Troy King, who while he was in office, sued the company for deceptive practices.
"As attorney general I stood up on the side of consumers they were deceiving once before," King said during a Friday news conference. "Now, I find myself doing so again."
But Francie Bauer, DISH's corporate communications manager, said it is DISH that is standing up for the consumer.
"What we pay programmers to air their stations already makes up the vast majority of our company's costs," she said. "So when programmers start demanding astronomical rate increases, that is a storm we can't weather. Because if we did, it would be our customers who in the long run would wind up footing the bill."
Bauer said WCOV owner David Woods is asking for a 200 percent increase.
"The last offer he made us was a 200 percent increase, and we haven't been able to move the needle on that. It is important to know that we have offered Mr. Woods what our competitors in the market pay, and we don't even know what they pay, but that he has refused that offer."
Woods has declined to discuss exactly how big an increase the station has requested.
But he isn't hesitant to talk about how upset he is about what he says are lies DISH has spread and continues to spread about the negotiations.
On the DISH channel upon which WCOV once aired, a note now reads that the airing of WCOV has been discontinued because of its demands for a 200 percent increase and because the station turned down an extension to keep the station on the air while negotiations continued.
Woods has said the latter statement is an outright lie and gave the
Advertiser documents showing WCOV had requested an extension on more than one occasion.
Bauer said DISH's claim is true."We absolutely offered Mr. Woods an extension -- in fact, we offered a one-year extension, but he flatly refused that offer."
Asked about the explanation by phone while driving to Orange Beach for a broadcasters convention, Woods laughed, but without humor.
"An extension is a temporary period of time to stop a disruption of services while you negotiate," he said. "A year is not an extension, it's a contract."
He said DISH's misleading statements are exactly why he had to hire King to protect a small company from a large corporation that is using whatever means it can against his station.
"We are demanding that DISH discontinue the false, malicious and inaccurate attacks against us," Woods said. "We understand that their marketing representatives have told their customers over and over things that are just not true."
Both sides differ on the impact that DISH dropping WCOV has had.
Woods, who cites FOX programs such as "American Idol," "House," "Fringe," and NASCAR racing, said WCOV is hearing from plenty of former DISH customers who have switched to cable so that they can continue to get the programming
"They say that they have dropped their service because they weren't happy that they weren't getting the services that they paid for," Woods said. "When they bought DISH, they were promised that they would have WCOV FOX-20, and now they don't have it."
But Bauer said the impact on DISH has been "very minimal."
She said the reason many of the customers came to DISH is because it is reasonably priced and "many are supporting our stand because they know prices would be passed on to them."
"I think customers appreciate the fact we are trying to keep their bills low," she said.
But both sides say talks are continuing and that they are hopeful, because despite their strong disagreements, they agree upon one thing: It would be better for both sides if WCOV was on DISH.
"We are still working on getting this done because we know our customers want their local programming, and we'd obviously like to get this on the air as soon as possible," Bauer said.
Woods echoed that sentiment.
"We want to be on DISH and for DISH subscribers to be able to watch their favorite shows on WCOV," Woods said.
