Blackout of CBS-owned stations on Dish systems ends

A blackout of CBS-owned stations on Dish systems, including KCBS-TV Channel 2 and KCAL-TV Channel 9 in Los Angeles, ended early Saturday when the two television companies hammered out a new contract that restores the CBS signal to millions of television viewers around the country.

After marathon negotiations that went through the night, the two companies structured a new pact that increases the fees that CBS charges and gives Dish digital rights to some of CBS programming, including premium channel Showtime.

Dish customers, including nearly 500,000 in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, lost access to CBS programming for a little more than 12 hours.

Without an agreement in place, Dish was not authorized to retransmit signals of 26 television stations owned by CBS.