Video blackouts are a real buzz kill for those tryptophan-induced Thanksgiving comas, so on that note CBS and Dish Network agreed to extend their retransmission talks for the second time.
The two sides had settled on a five-day extension on Nov. 20 before the second extension was announced Tuesday night.
“A short-term extension into next week has been granted while negotiations continue,” CBS said Tuesday in its statement.
So now Dish customers in CBS’s 14 markets will still get to see Chicago QB Jay Cutler pout his way to another loss when the da Bears take on Detroit on Turkey Day.
A new deal would also include CBS’s Showtime premium channels, its CBS Sports cable network, and, reportedly, digital rights.
As you may recall, CBS and Time Warner Cable scuffled over a carriage agreement last year, which was a contributing factor in the cable operator bleeding out 306,000 residential TV subscribers in the third quarter following the month-long blackout by CBS. Digital rights were also one of the root causes of discontent between TWC and CBS.
A new deal between CBS and Time Warner Cable was finally reached in September just ahead of the start of the NFL season and fall premieres, but the damage was done as Time Warner Cable became an acquisition target.
So maybe the new extension between CBS and Dish is a sign that the talks between the two are progressing. Or maybe it’s a sign that some level of common sense prevailed when the two sides elected to not punish Dish subscribers with a blackout over the holiday. Watching Cutler throw two or three picks will be punishment enough for Bears fans.
