ATTENTION DISH SUBSCRIBERS
WOWK and DISH NETWORK have been negotiating to provide for continued carriage on DISH. Unfortunately, we have not yet reached an agreement and WOWK has been removed from DISH. WOWK has made several offers to reach an agreement, but DISH has failed to recognize the value of our programming to you the subscriber.
We are not asking a lot. We know that the average DISH bill runs about $40 and $80 each month, yet DISH refuses to pay just 2 or 3 cents in order to provide you with the valuable programming that this station and its digital channels deliver to you each day. It's important to note that WOWK does not keep this money. These fees go directly to the networks in order to support the quality of our entertainment, news, and sports programming. In addition, WOWK provides local jobs to local people, we cover local news specific to the community and invest heavily toward the betterment of the community.
As a result, you may want to make plans to contact an alternative service provider or attach a VHF/UHF antenna to your digital sets (or to a converter box for your analog sets) in order to continue to receive your favorite news, sports, weather and entertainment from WOWK and the WOWK Network. We hope that this inconvenience is only temporary, and we appreciate your continued support.
ACTION STEP
Call DISH NETWORK at 1-800-333-3474 AND TELL THEM TO KEEP WOWK AND THE WOWK NETWORK ON THEIR SYSTEM.
ALTERNATIVE RECEPTION METHODS
1. FREE OVER-THE-AIR RECEPTION: Most local locations can receive WOWK's free over-the-air signal. You will need a VHF/UHF antenna hooked up to your digital television set. If you have an older, analog television set, you will need to hook a VHF/UHF antenna to a digital-to-analog converter box and then connect the converter box to your analog television set. You will need to rescan the channel settings to receive all of the available channels in your area.
2. SATELLITE RECEPTION: WOWK's signal is available on DIRECTV. New customers may call them directly at 1-888-777-2454.
3. CABLE TELEVISION: WOWK's signal is available on the following cable systems:
Armstrong Cable
Colane-Bowen Cable
Comcast
Community Antenna Service
DIRECTV
Foothills Rural Telephone
Inter Mountain Mikrotec
Minford TV Cable
Mountain Rural Telephone
Shentel
Suddenlink
Time Warner Cable
Vital Communications
HISTORY OF BROADCASTER/CABLE/SATELLITE NEGOTIATIONS
Before 1992, cable companies picked up the signals of local television stations without the stations' consent and retransmitted them to their paying subscribers for profit. By adopting the 1992 Cable Act, Congress created a process which allows broadcasters to negotiate for fair compensation in return for cable operators' distribution of a station's local as well as network broadcast signals – the retransmission consent process. Congress stressed that it did not want to dictate the outcome of marketplace negotiations between broadcasters and cable operators; the process simply provides stations with the opportunity to negotiate with the pay service providers. This same process was subsequently extended to satellite distribution of local television signals.
In recent years, the FCC has reviewed the retransmission consent process and recommended to Congress that no changes should be made to this system. The FCC found that retransmission consent has benefited broadcasters, cable, satellite operators and, most importantly, viewers.
Over the years, many thousands of retransmission consent agreements have been successfully negotiated between local television stations and cable and satellite companies, nearly all without any disruption in service. Simply put, the process is working as Congress intended.
To be able to continue to provide the entertainment programming you like and the news, weather and information programming you need, it is imperative that we receive a fair payment for our programming from cable and satellite providers. In recent years, there have been some highly publicized disputes and service disruptions in some areas. We assure you that we are committed to working with the pay service providers so you can continue to receive WOWK's programming.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WOWK. All Rights Reserved.
