Fox pulls sports nets off Dish in retrans fight

The deadline has passed and the games have begun--or perhaps ended. Fox Networks has pulled 19 regional sports networks from Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) and has "flatly refused Dish Network's request to allow customers to continue to watch Fox channels during" negotiations for a new retransmission agreement, a Dish news release said.

On the plus side, the negotiation breakdown did not include local Fox TV stations, Fox News or Fox Business News. On the negative side, Dish sports lovers are in for some serious withdrawal pains if things continue.

Dish claims that Fox wants an "unprecedented rate increase of more than 50 percent" and that that's just not going to happen. "Dish Network is not going to allow Fox or any programmer to bully our customers into paying such an unconscionable price increase," said Dave Shull senior vice president of programming at Dish in the news release.

For more:
- see this news release

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