DISH DROPS GRAY MEDIA’S STATIONS OVER UNPRECEDENTED NEW DEMAND TO RESHAPE THE TELEVISION INDUSTRY TO ENRICH ITS OWNER
ATLANTA, March 11, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- For the first time in its history, Gray Media’s television stations have been dropped by Dish Network, a serial instigator of disputes that have removed thousands of broadcast and cable channels from their paying customers over the years.
Gray’s track record for fair and reasonable distribution negotiations is undisputed in the industry. Gray has never had its signals dropped by a satellite operator, and its last multimarket cable system dispute lasted just a few days over a decade ago.
Dish’s action follows the parties spending several months negotiating and nearly reaching agreement on rates, tenure and all other customary terms in a standard new distribution agreement. It also follows weeks of Dish operating under extensions of the companies’ prior distribution agreement that Gray provided to prevent Dish from removing Gray’s signals to its paying customers during the Super Bowl, Winter Olympics, NBA All-Star Game, and numerous breaking news emergencies occurring in many of Gray’s local markets over the past several weeks.
To the great surprise and disappointment of Gray’s leadership, Dish insisted that Gray agree to a materially adverse provision in the new agreement that is unlike any provision in any distribution agreement with Gray’s roughly 400 other distribution partners, and, to Gray’s knowledge, unprecedented in the several decade history of the pay-TV industry across any cable or DBS operator and any broadcaster. Because this new demand from Dish has no precedent in history, it is flatly inconsistent with marketplace conditions in clear violation of Dish’s federal statutory obligation to negotiate retransmission in good faith.
As an extension of Dish’s bad faith conduct, Dish has taken the extreme step of removing Gray’s local stations from the local lineups of its paying customers and publicizing false and defamatory allegations about this dispute revolving around the price it pays Gray to distribute the largest collection of top-ranked local television stations in the country.
Unfortunately, Dish’s tactics here are all too familiar for the shrinking number of consumers who still subscribe to their service: from 14 million in 2014 to 5 million today. A sampling of recent disputes with broadcasters includes the following in which it chose to use its customers as negotiating pawns:
July 2024: Zolo Broadcasting
September 2023: Hearst Television
January 2023: Mission Broadcasting
January 2023: White Knight Broadcasting
November 2022: Cox Media Group
November 2022: Standard Media
October 2022: Disney (including ABC)
January 2022: Block Communications
October 2021: Tegna
December 2020: Capitol Broadcasting
November 2020: Nexstar Media Group
July 2020: Cox Media Group
July 2020: Scripps
September 2019: Fox Television
June 2018: Univision
January 2018: Lockwood
Despite all this, Gray stands ready to finalize an agreement with Dish and restore its stations to Dish’s platform, without the unprecedented provision that it outrageously demands. Absent an immediate resolution of this dispute, Gray will enforce its rights against Dish’s bad faith negotiating conduct and will seek restitution for the millions of dollars in damages that Gray has incurred from Dish’s repeated, continuing and undisputed breaches of the parties just-expired distribution agreement.
About Gray Media:
Gray Media, Inc. (NYSE: GTN) is a multimedia company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. We are the nation’s largest owner of top-rated local television stations and digital assets serving 114 full-power television markets that collectively reach approximately 37% of US television households. The portfolio includes 77 markets with the top-rated television station and 97 markets with the first and/or second highest rated television station in average all-day ratings across the 113 of such markets that were measured by Nielsen in 2025. We also own the largest Telemundo Affiliate group with 47 markets and Gray Digital Media, a full-service digital agency offering national and local clients digital marketing strategies with the most advanced digital products and services. Our additional media properties include video production companies Raycom Sports, Tupelo Media Group, and PowerNation Studios, and studio production facilities Assembly Atlanta and Third Rail Studios.
Contact:
Alan Gould, Vice President Investor Relations, 404-266-8333
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