HUNT VALLEY, Md. — Dish Network and Sinclair Broadcast Group announced an agreement Sunday extending their contract, enabling the satellite TV provider to broadcast Sinclair’s local channels and averting a possible blackout.
Dish announced the eleventh-hour agreement on a short-term extension. The contract was set to expire at midnight Eastern time Saturday. The agreement saved millions of customers from losing access to 153 local channels in 79 markets across the country, Dish said.
The extension allows Dish Network Corp. and Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. to continue negotiating a new retransmission agreement. Hunt Valley, Md.-based Sinclair is one of the largest TV broadcasting companies in the U.S., owning local stations affiliated with all the major networks, including KATU in Portland.
Englewood, Colo.-based Dish, which has nearly 14 million subscribers, didn’t specify the term of the extension. Representatives of Sinclair could not be reached for comment Sunday.
