Satellite : Citadel Inks Deal with DISH

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Citadel Communications said it reached a carriage agreement with DISH Network that restored its Midwest stations on the DBS service during the weekend.

In a posting at one of the Citadel stations, the company said the stations were expected to be available on DISH at midnight last Friday.

In a separate statement from Citadel released Friday, the broadcaster said it was encouraged by recent developments in its negotiations with DISH. “Discussions over the past week have been productive and, we hope, have put us within reach of our objective from the outset of this dispute: A carriage agreement that's fair to both parties,” the company said before its carriage deal was announced.

In August, DISH dropped Citadel stations in the Midwest after the two sides couldn’t reach a retransmission consent agreement. Stations taken down from the DBS service were ABC affiliate WOI in Des Moines, Iowa, ABC affiliate KCAU in Sioux City, Iowa, CBS affiliate WHBF in the Quad Cities area in Illinois and Iowa, and ABC affiliate KLKN in Lincoln, Neb.