Syncbak is adding 18 stations to its VUit out of market local news streaming service after reaching agreement with six broadcast groups.

The stations give VUit news and special events from five additional markets: Chicago, Raleigh, North Carolina; Fort Myers, Florida; Norfolk, Virginia; and Salisbury, Maryland.

The stations are owned by Weigel Broadcasting (WCIU, WBND, WDJT and WYTU); Capitol Broadcasting (WRAL, WRAZ and WILM); Lockwood Broadcast Group (WSKY, WCAV, WDFX, WPGX and WTNZ); Marquee Broadcasting (WMDT, WNKY and WSWG); Fort Myers Broadcasting (WINK) and Sunbeam Television (WDHD and WSVN).

VUit lets viewers nationwide stream news from stations in out of town market. They can catch up new from their hometowns, watch high school sporting event or check out the weather where their friends or family live.

VUit now streams content from about 250 stations with coverage in nearly 80% of the top markets.

“These new deals are the latest example underscoring VUit’s position as the leading streaming destination for local news and cultural content that has appeal on a national scale,” Syncbak CEO Jack Perry said. “The value we offer to stations in scaling their streaming audience and digital revenue is unparalleled. As we continue to expand, we remain laser-focused on our bigger mission and vision: helping every station and station group thrive in the streaming landscape.”

VUit has stations from Gray Television (an early investor in the service), Cox Media Group, Hearst Television, Heritage Broadcasting, Morgan Murphy Media, News-Press and Gazette Co. and independent stations WFMZ Philadelphia and KTSF San Francisco. ■

With the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics less than two weeks away, tiny Lockwood Broadcast Group is urging some of its customers in Oklahoma to seek alternatives to view the contests as its retransmission consent battle with Dish Network rages on.

Four Lockwood-owned stations – KAKE-TV (ABC) in Wichita, Kans.; WHDF-TV (CW) in Florence, Ala. WCWG-TV (CW) in Lexington, N.C.; and KTEN-TV (NBC) in Ada, Okla. – went dark to Dish customers on Jan. 23. At the heart of the impasse is pricing, with Dish claiming the broadcaster is demanding exorbitant rate increases while Lockwood says it is only asking for market prices for its content and has granted several extensions to Dish to work out a deal.

News of the impasse was first reported by TVAnswerman.com

In a statement, Dish said it was hopeful that a deal could have been reached by the Jan. 23 deadline, and offered a short-term contract extension that included a retroactive true-up when new rates were agreed upon, and would preserve the ability of Dish customers to access the Lockwood stations while negotiations continued.

“With Dish willing to grant an extension and a retroactive true-up on rates, Lockwood had nothing to lose and consumers had everything to gain by leaving the channels up,” Dish senior vice president of programming Andy LeCuyer said in a statement. “Instead, Lockwood chose to turn its back on its public interest obligations and use innocent consumers as bargaining chips. Only Lockwood can choose to remove its stations from Dish’s channel lineup."

On its KTEN website, Lockwood warned that it did not believe a deal would be reached soon, and urged customers to find alternative viewing options for the Super Bowl on Feb. 4 and the Winter Olympics beginning Feb. 9. The station also characterized the impasse as a classic case of a large conglomerate taking advantage of a small town business.

 “Our company is a small, family-owned broadcaster, one of the few still left in America,” Lockwood said on its KTEN website. “KTEN has been a part of Lockwood Broadcasting since 1998. Dish Network is a multi-billion-dollar company that reported revenue of $3.6 billion in just the third quarter of 2017. We think you can see where this is going.”