WRCB employees work in the control room at channel three.Negotiations have reached an impasse between DISH network and Chattanooga’s WRCB, which could mean no local NBC channel for DISH subscribers, Channel 3 warned in a story posted on its website.
Customers could lose access to popular programs that the NBC affiliate offers such as NFL Network and Channel 3 News if an agreement isn’t reached by Jan. 8.
DISH’s partnership originally expired last December, but WRCB extended negotiations to this week in order to avoid a disruption of service to subscribers, the station said. Nevertheless, WRCB described any dialog between the two to be at “an impasse. “
WRCB says that its programming is worth more than it is receiving and that DISH is paying much more for less popular networks. In a recent news statement, WRCB also says that its programming is available for free online and through other network services such as DIRECTV.
WRCB argued that DISH has refused to pay a fair price for its signal, and that DISH’s offer is “significantly below” what its competitors pay for WRCB.
DISH did not respond to a request for comment.