Dish Network hits glitch with local programming

Technical difficulties delayed the planned start Thursday of local programming on Dish Network, resulting in a number of unhappy subscribers.

A front-page article in Thursday's Sun reported that the local service was to begin that day. But when subscribers called Dish Network to sign up for the service, they were told it wasn't available yet in the Yuma area.

There was a "glitch" in the system, said Dwayne Morris, owner of Smartech Southwest LLC who is a Yuma dealer for Dish Network. He said he was informed of the problem Thursday afternoon by the satellite company, but that technicians were working on the problem and hoped to hope it fixed at least by this (Friday) morning.

The problem was that Dish Network's computer system failed to show that the Yuma-area local channels were now being carried by the satellite TV provider, Morris said. Therefore, when subscribers called to receive the local service, they were told by customer service representatives that the service wasn't available.

Until the information is entered in the computer system, subscribers cannot sign up to receive the local channels with their Dish Network receivers.

Corporate officials and media spokespeople for Dish Network could not be reached by The Sun for comment Thursday.

But Dish Network had planned to make local programming available Thursday to its Yuma-area subscribers, according to an e-mail sent to Andrew Wyatt, general manager of KSWT, which he shared with The Sun.

The e-mail sent March 8 by Stacey Conway, general manager for local programming for Dish Network, says: "Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we plan to make the Yuma locals available to customers next Thursday, May 15th. Thanks for your patience."

A follow-up e-mail sent to Wyatt on Wednesday confirmed that the service was to begin Thursday.

According to Dish Network's Web site at dishnetwork.com, the phone number for current customers to call to receive the local service is 1-888-284-7116. The phone number for new customers is 1-888-825-2557.