As its carriage impasse over Fox News rhetorically boiled over, Dish Network (NASDAQ: DISH) quietly announced over the weekend that it came to terms on a long-term deal with Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA) for four regional sports networks.
The long-term agreement with NBC Sports Group covers CSN Chicago, CSN Mid-Atlantic, CSN Bay Area and CSN California.
With multi-year pacts signed with CBS Corp. and Comcast RSNs, and progress being made on an overall renewal with Turner Networks, Dish is now involved in a one-front carriage war with Fox Networks, which pulled Fox News and Fox Business News off Dish Sunday morning.
Dish senior VP of programming Warren Schlichting compared the impasse to getting ready to "close on a house and the realtor is trying to make us buy a new car as well."
Speaking to Deadline Hollywood, Fox News executive VP of distribution Tim Carry amped up the rhetoric, noting, "What [Dish is] looking at is a mansion, and you want to buy it like it's a double lot.
"Dish is operating the company like they've always operated the company--they haven't changed the way they package or price since 1993 and they're trying to force programmers to continue to operate in an antiquated environment," Carry added. "We just asked them to do what all our other operators at this point haves done. They are the only one of the big operators who aren't providing our services like everybody else is providing them."
While the bulk of Dish's dealmaking concerns center around Fox Networks right now, there are a few scattered retrans skirmishes that need attention, too.
Specifically, Maryland CBS affiliate WBOC-TV and Fox 21 say they'll black out the satellite company on New Year's day if a new deal isn't struck. Busy holiday for the Dish programming team.
For more:
- read this Deadline Hollywood story
- read this TV Predictions story
Related links:
Fox News blackout of Dish is on: Will Ergen dig his heels in?
Fox News finds new way to scare its viewers, warns of Dish blackout
Fox News fans storm 800 line and website with Dish deal set to expire Saturday
Dish signs retrans renewal with Nexstar, avoids blackout of 60 channels
Dish avoids Comcast RSN blackout, but another CBS extension is still pending