Update 8pm ET: The blackout ended today following an emergency meeting, as Dish and Sinclair agreed to put the stations back on the air while they continue to negotiate.

“On behalf of more than 5 million consumers nationwide, I am pleased Dish and Sinclair have agreed to end one of the largest blackouts in history and extend their negotiations," FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler said in a statement. "The FCC will remain vigilant while the negotiations continue.”

Original story:

Dish Network today said its customers are experiencing "the largest blackout in US television history," all because of a money dispute between Dish and Sinclair Broadcast Group.

129 stations in 36 states and Washington, DC, went dark yesterday afternoon, affecting about 5 million Dish customers. Overall, Sinclair owns or operates 153 stations, with 87 of them being "affiliates of the four major broadcast networks—CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox—meaning customers lost access to local and national news programming as well as sports carried by those stations," The Wall Street Journal reported.

Sinclair is the nation's largest broadcast group, according to the FCC. With almost 14 million subscribers, Dish is the second largest satellite TV provider after the AT&T-owned DirecTV.

The Dish/Sinclair dispute is over retransmission consent, in which cable or satellite providers pay for the right to air TV stations. Sinclair noted that these channels can also be watched for free with an antenna, but for now they won't be seen on a Dish system.

Dish and Sinclair blamed each other for the dispute, with Dish asking the Federal Communications Commission to intervene in its favor. Dish claims it has agreed to rates and terms with Sinclair for carriage of its local stations, but that Sinclair won't complete the deal unless Dish also agrees to terms and conditions "for future carriage rights of a cable network that Sinclair does not yet own."

Dish did not identify the cable network that it says Sinclair is attempting to acquire.

Sinclair general counsel Barry Faber issued a statement saying that it "is not interested in negotiating this transaction in the press." Faber accused Dish of having "engaged in more recent station blackouts than any other" TV provider. "In the end, this is simply a commercial business transaction in which the parties unfortunately were not able to agree on terms. Fortunately, the public has ways to receive our stations other than from Dish, including for free over the air," Faber wrote.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler got involved today, saying that he called for an emergency meeting involving the FCC and the two companies. He gave Dish and Sinclair until midnight tonight to "file their views."

"We will not stand idly by while millions of consumers in 79 markets across the country are being denied access to local programming," Wheeler said. "The Commission will always act within the scope of its authority if it emerges that improper conduct is preventing a commercial resolution of the dispute."

Wheeler noted that Congress last year "instructed the Commission to look closely at whether retransmission consent negotiations are being conducted in good faith," and that the FCC is considering new rules as a result. "The facts surrounding this dispute inform our findings in that proceeding, but we will not wait to act on behalf of consumers," Wheeler said.