The current deal between Dish and 21st Century Fox expired on Saturday at midnight, so now Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network are not available on the satellite TV provider. Both sides in the latest spat are blaming each other. Dish says that 21st Century Fox was blocking access to the two chancels as part of contract negotiations. Fox says Dish shut down the server at 11:50 p.m. Saturday, 10 minutes before the contract ended.
Two Fox Channels Go Dark On Dish
NEW YORK (AP) — Dish Network subscribers were unable to watch Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network on Sunday when the channels were taken down as part of contract negotiations.
The Fox blackout is just the latest skirmish as cable and satellite TV providers fight with networks over subscription fees. Dish Network just settled disputes that led to the temporary blackout of some local CBS stations and a separate blackout related to Turner Broadcasting channels — including Cartoon Network, CNN, Boomerang and Turner Classic Movies.
Dish has more than 14 million satellite TV customers. Fox is urging viewers with emails and tweets to switch to another TV provider.
Both sides in the latest spat are blaming each other. Englewood, Colorado-based Dish Network Corp. said in a statement that 21st Century Fox, Inc., was blocking access to the two chancels as part of contract negotiations. New York-based Fox said Dish shut down the server at 11:50 p.m. Saturday, 10 minutes before the contract ended.
Dish blamed Fox for introducing other channels into negotiations despite those not being included in the contract up for renewal.
“It’s like we’re about to close on a house and the Realtor is trying to make us buy a new car as well,” Warren Schlichting, Dish’s senior vice president of programming, said in a statement “Fox blacked out two of its news channels, using them as leverage to triple rates on sports and entertainment channels that are not in this contract.”
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Fox said Dish was to blame for prematurely shutting down the network “in an attempt to intimidate and sway our negotiations.”
Tim Carry, executive vice president of distribution for Fox News, said in a phone interview that Fox was offering Dish a deal similar to what it has with various cable providers. Dish wanted something different, he said.
“How can I continue a relationship with someone who feels that they can be treated differently?,” Carry said. He blamed Dish for not evolving its business model: “There’s at the end of the rope of the pricing and marketing model they put in in 1993 and have not changed.”
Comments (11)
Keith ONeal says:
December 21, 2014 at 8:30 pm
Once again, it’s the customer who gets SCREWED!
kendra campbell says:
December 22, 2014 at 8:19 am
Typical Fox boorish behavior. Hopefully Dish will not cave. Subscribers have clearly reached the tipping point with insane monthly cable/satellite bills.
Jeff Groves says:
December 22, 2014 at 9:17 am
Snip, Snip, Snip!
Wagner Pereira says:
December 22, 2014 at 9:56 am
Says the person living at home (or should we call it an apartment) with their parents who work for Time Warner Cable.
Jeff Groves says:
December 22, 2014 at 12:52 pm
The costs FOX and Dish are arguing over will be passed on to the consumers in the form of EVEN HIGHER subscription fees. It’s that time of the year providers LOVE to tell their customers their fees are going to go up (Christmastime always has the biggest increases of the entire year). BTW Insider, my Father passed away in 1996, and my Mother lives in a nursing home. I live by myself, and will celebrate the eighth anniversary by purchasing 16 complete TV Series, nine documentaries and three movies, which I get to keep after viewing them. no monthly fees, no commercials and no schedules to adhere to. I read somewhere that the “tipping point” advertisers fear the most has arrived, more people record a show and watch it later than watch it live (AKA “Appointment TV”). The more prices go up, the more people will quit Cable/Satellite Pay-TV. Its that simple.
PS the money I am using for these purchases is from what I saved from NOT subscribing to a Pay-TV Service.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Wagner Pereira says:
December 22, 2014 at 1:46 pm
That’s some big ego that thinks I was posting about you when I have posted in a thread that is a response to someone else. Regardless, since you are not a customer and have said you have no intention of subscribing to a MVPD, what you are really doing is telling others how they should feel as they spend their money for what they gauge as important (or not). Clearly, as you love telling others how to spend their money and how to feel about it, you must be a Democrat.
Wagner Pereira says:
December 22, 2014 at 2:50 pm
BTW, your facts are so wrong its laughable. Live TV viewing is roughly 4:30 (or roughly 270 minutes) and DVR Viewing is less than 40 minutes. So much for more watching DVR than live linear. And yes, this time I am talking to you Regulus, with your made up facts.
Wagner Pereira says:
December 22, 2014 at 8:42 pm
Capital Broadcasting is now Blacked out on Dish as of roughly 6:55PM