Turner Networks announced that has signed a long-term carriage agreement with Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH), and that its Time Warner Inc. pay-TV sibling, HBO, has done the same.
"Time Warner's Turner Broadcasting and HBO have successfully completed separate distribution agreements with Dish. We're pleased that the Dish customers we all serve can continue to enjoy Turner and HBO's popular programming on multiple platforms," Turner said in a brief statement.
Neither side disclosed details about the agreement, which came as a short-term extension of Turner's earlier contract, signed in November, expired. However, quoting unnamed sources, the Wall Street Journal said the new HBO contract allows users of Dish's $20-a-month OTT service, Sling TV, to access an HBO subscription.
However, under the agreement, Dish reportedly will not distribute HBO's new over-the-top service, HBO Now.
Reps for Time Warner Inc. and Dish have yet to confirm this for FierceCable.
The Turner deal comes after Dish blacked out its CNN and Cartoon Network channels in November, then threatened to take TNT and TBS off its program guide.
"When we take something down, we're prepared to take it down forever," Dish's chairman and CEO told investors in November, alluding to the possibility that the Turner channels would never be back on Dish. "We would prefer to get a deal done. We have a time frame we look at, but if we don't have a deal, we might make a long-term decision to go another direction."
For more:
- read this Wall Street Journal story
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