Dish Network and Louisiana Media reached a retransmission-consent accord Feb. 17, ending a more than two- week stalemate that disrupted service of WVUE, the Fox affiliate serving the New Orleans DMA.
The multiyear deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, restored WVUE to Dish's lineup. The No. 2 DBS providers' customers in the New Orleans area were without the signal since Jan. 31, when the parties could not reach an new retrans accord.
At the time of the disconnect, Dish indicated that WVUE had sought an increase of as much as 300%.
On Friday, Dish senior vice president of programming Dave Shull issued the following statement: "Dish Network is pleased to announce this new agreement, and we thank Louisiana Media for its willingness to remain at the negotiating table and help reconnect Dish customers to the great Fox programming on WVUE. We are most pleased on behalf of Dish customers in the New Orleans area who will continue to receive the best channel choices at the lowest everyday prices in the industry."
For its part, WVUE declared the impasse was over on its website. In red box under navigation bar on the station's home page, the message was headlined "Attention Dish Network Subscribers." That was followed by: "We have reached an agreement with Dish. Service has been restored o Dish customers. Thank you for your patience." 02/20/2012 | 
