Until April 2008, WLUK's high definition signal was only available over-the-air as the station had maintained edicts going back to its ownership under Emmis not to allow local cable or satellite providers to broadcast its digital signal without paid retransmission consent. LIN TV continued to apply this policy after its purchase of the Emmis stations and eventually extended it further to the remainder of its existing stations. Station officials kept their stance against local pay television providers defending the station's stance on WLUK's website and in on-air promotions. The first provider to carry WLUK-DT was Dish Network as part of a March 13, 2008 carriage agreement with LIN TV. Originally, the signal was to be added in May 2008, but Dish began offering HD feeds of the Green Bay stations early on April 16, surprised viewers with WLUK carried on channel 5163. DirecTV followed on June 8.