The owner of the local CBS and CW affiliates reached a last-minute accord with Dish Network over the weekend to keep the stations broadcasting to subscribers of the satellite-TV company.

Dish Network Corp. and Oklahoma City-based Griffin Communications LLC came to a new carriage agreement Saturday night, just minutes before Griffin was scheduled to shut off access to KOTV and the local CW affiliate.

"I'm really pleased that this was worked out," said David Griffin, president and CEO of Griffin Communications.

The dispute was over Dish Network's rights to carry Griffin-owned stations. Griffin owns CBS affiliates KOTV channel 6 in Tulsa and KWTV in Oklahoma City and CW stations in both markets.

Federal law requires cable and satellite carriers to obtain permission to broadcast stations, which usually entails a payment to station owners.

The deal was scheduled to expire at midnight Saturday.

In a letter to subscribers, Meridian, Colo.-based Dish Network said Griffin Communications was trying to triple its fee and that subscribers would suffer.

Griffin would not disclose the terms or length of the new deal but said the company now had agreements with all local cable and satellite providers.

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