Dish Network dropped Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network late Saturday night before negotiations ended, breaching their contract.
Tim Carry, executive vice president of Fox News and Fox Business, issued the following statement:
It is disappointing that, after nearly two decades without a blackout, Fox News Channel has been blocked by Dish Network. We care deeply about our viewers and hope that they will regain access to the number one cable news channel soon. We will continue to work around the clock to reach an agreement with Dish, as we have done with every other pay-TV provider for 18 years. This is the third time in as many months that Dish customers have suffered through a blackout due to Dish’s intransigence. Dish’s record speaks for itself, and makes its rhetoric about ‘reasonable’ agreements ring hollow.
Fox News Channel did not disconnect Dish, rather, Dish prematurely ceased distribution of Fox News in an attempt to intimidate and sway our negotiations. It is unfortunate that the millions of Fox News viewers on Dish were used as pawns by their provider. Hopefully they will vote with their hard earned money and seek another one of our other valued distributors immediately.
