WRAL and FOX 50 removed from DISH lineup, removes key local news and community programming during pandemic and winter weather months
Effective Tuesday, December 29th, 2020 at 5 p.m. ET, WRAL and FOX 50 are no longer being carried on DISH.
WRAL and FOX 50 have fallen victim to the same fate as hundreds of other local TV stations across the country, removed by DISH after they refuse to reach a fair agreement to carry our stations.
In 2020 alone, DISH has dropped network or local programming offered by Nexstar (115 local stations), The E.W. Scripps Company, Apollo, Mission Broadcasting, the NFL Network and more than 20 regional sports networks.
WRAL and FOX 50 routinely reach amicable carriage agreements with cable and satellite partners. We have successfully completed these agreements with large national cable and satellite operators like Spectrum, DIRECTV, AT&T U-verse, and Comcast, including some this year.
WRAL and FOX 50 are free to watch over the air with an antenna. DISH charges you to watch them on your television. The law requires all satellite and cable companies to negotiate with local TV stations for the right to carry the television signals on their paid services. Since they charge you to watch our free channels, we are allowed to charge them a carriage fee.
“WRAL and FOX 50 are not pushing for things that are unreasonable,“ said Jimmy Goodmon, President and COO of Capitol Broadcasting Company. “We are asking to be paid market rate for our programming so we can pay the affiliation fees required by NBC and FOX. This isn’t about greed, it’s about survival for our small, locally owned media company. Now, more than ever, local television news and original programming is a critical service to our community.”
Viewers can still watch WRAL and FOX 50
All WRAL newscasts are available live on WRAL.com or you can stream the newscasts live on Roku, AppleTV and Fire TV. Just download the WRAL app on those devices.
Where can you watch NBC or FOX network shows? Our channels remain available on Spectrum, DIRECTV, and all other cable companies serving this television market. You can also watch NBC and FOX network programs with an antenna.
Our very reputation has been built on integrity and community service. We did not want you, our viewers, in the middle of this. We even extended our contract multiple times to try to work it out. We are very sorry for the inconvenience to you.
WRAL and FOX 50 will update the website keepmylocalstations.com to keep viewers informed about status on DISH.
UPDATE: Find out the latest updates on WRAL.com HERE
Thanks to WRAL-TV for this Capcom story & graphic.
