WABI TV Blacked Out For DISH Subscribers

DISH TV subscribers woke up on Wednesday and found that WABI TV in Bangor was just a blank screen. It's all due to an ongoing contract dispute between the company that owns the television station and the direct-satellite service provider.

Both sides are squarely blaming the other for the impasse.

Steve Swain, DISH senior vice president of programming said in a press release, 'We offered to keep the channels on while we try to reach a deal, but WABI refuses to put viewers first.'

Mike Young, vice president and general manager at Community Broadcasting Service, which operates WABI, said in a statement that, 'We do not want anyone who currently has access to our local news and other programming to permanently lose it as a result of DISH's insistence on this change.'