DISH Network has pulled WILX-TV 10 and other Gray Media stations off its service, and the blackout has now lasted more than a month. For viewers in the Lansing area who rely on DISH, the station remains dark even as Gray says it gave the satellite company multiple extensions during severe weather and major events.
Those extensions covered the NFL playoffs, the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, Gray said, before DISH became unwilling to reach an agreement after those events passed. Hilton Howell said disputes like this are rare for Gray. “Disputes like this one with DISH are extremely rare for Gray. Until this year, we had never had a blackout with a satellite provider, and our last large-scale dispute with a cable operator occurred over a decade ago,” he said.
Howell said the company has tried repeatedly to end the impasse, but that DISH keeps moving the goalposts. “In response to each of our many attempts to resolve this matter, DISH responds by rejecting all proposals, refusing to honor the terms that it earlier had accepted, and adding more outrageous terms to its demands,” he said.
The fight is part of a broader carriage dispute pattern that has become familiar for DISH customers. WILX says the station remains available on other subscription television services and can be watched for free with an antenna on channel 10 or channel 29. Viewers can also stream local newscasts on WILX.com or through the station’s free news app. DISH customers who want the station restored can call 855-2-KEEPUS, or 855-253-3787, to press the company for a deal.
WILX says DISH has kept programmers off its lineup for several months at a time and that, since 2017, the company has taken down over 200 television WILXs. The station says more than 150 programmers and stations remain off DISH’s lineup today, and it accuses the satellite provider of being unwilling to agree to a fair market deal to keep WILX available to subscribers. That leaves the station still reachable for now, but not through the service many households use most often.
What happens next is plain enough: if DISH and Gray do not settle, the blackout stays in place, and WILX viewers on satellite keep being pushed to antenna, other providers, the website or the app instead.