Dish Network has averted the Fox blackout scenario that Cablevision has been dealing with for the past two weeks by agreeing to a new contract with Fox parent-company News Corp before the existing one expired at the end of this month.
Customers who use dish network had feared that Fox programming would be blacked out in the middle of the World Series, as it is for Cablevision subscribers, if the two companies failed to agree upon future programming fees.
“After prolonged negotiations to reach a fair deal, we’re pleased to enter into a long term agreement with Fox and to assure our customers that they can continue to enjoy these channels,” said Dish senior VP of programming Dave Shull. “We thank our customers, our retail and channel partners, and our employees for their support through these negotiations, which we believe resulted in a fair deal.”
The agreement also restores other Fox channels that had been removed from Dish’s lineup at the beginning of this month, including FX, National Geographic, and 19 Fox Sports channels. Fox’s main network was still active, but would’ve been blacked out with the other channels if negotiations had lasted beyond midnight on October 31st.
The FCC, after refusing to get involved with News Corp negotiations with Dish and Cablevision, released a statement praising the agreement. “I am pleased that Fox and Dish have kept in mind their responsibility to protect consumers from blackouts when they negotiate carriage terms,” said FCC chairman Julius Genachowski. “I urge Fox and Cablevision to complete their negotiations and end the impasse that has disrupted service to viewers.”
There is no word on the specific terms agreed upon in the new contract, but Dish had originally claimed that Fox was asking for a 50 percent increase in their programming fees.
Cablevision subscribers have been dealing with a blackout of Fox programming since October 16th. Some fed-up customers have banded together and filed a class-action lawsuit against the cable company, hoping to be financially reimbursed for their loss of programming.
As people keep mentioning in the comments, the main Fox network is broadcast over-the-air and can be easily picked up with an antenna in urban areas. That’s great for World Series viewers, but those who want to watch events on any of the several Fox Sports channels are out of luck. Hopefully they will get a resolution soon.
