All so the broadcasters can extract the maximum profit from their free use of public airwaves. Kinda takes your breath away. Congress set this little goodie up through the 1999 Satellite Home Viewer Act. At any rate, while Congress decreed that the broadcasters should negotiate fairly with the DBS folk, they established no statutory guarantee of fairness. Given the obvious importance of local channels to DBS operators, and the fact that DBS has no where near the market bulk of cable operators, that pretty much meant that the broadcasters could gouge as deeply as they wished.
Word is, that has been very deep indeed.
What's more any DBS operator who fails to meet the broadcasters terms MUST turn off the local signal. If they don't, the big B can file a complaint. According to the folk at DirecTV, they've got all their retransmission consents in hand. But at the smaller DISH Network, things are no where near as certain. Well, both DBS operators could pass through the long weekend unscathed.