Sinclair Broadcast reaches deal with Dish Network

Sinclair Broadcast Group said it has agreed to extend its retransmission agreement with Dish Network for TV stations in 45 cities, including Cedar Rapids.

Baltimore-based Sinclair had threatened to pull its stations, including KGAN-CBS 2 and KFXA-FOX 28 in Cedar Rapids, from Dish's network if the two sides could not reach terms to replace a retransmission agreement that expired at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

Sinclair announced Thursday that it has reached "agreement in principle" with Dish on a new retransmission agreement, and accepted a two-week extension of the old deal while a deal was finalized.

The companies did not disclose terms of the deal. Dish Network had criticized Sinclair's demands for "enormous" price increases, saying that to agreement with them would affect customer rates.

Sinclair officials said the differences were broader than price, including Dish's offering of technology that let its customers block commercials on Sinclair's stations.