UPDATED: NimbleTV loses content from Dish Network, refunds subscribers

NimbleTV was introduced last year and promised subscribers around the country they could buy online access to certain pay-TV providers' packages of subscription television no matter where they were. But last week, one of the pay-TV providers seems to have stopped cooperating.

Complaints about the lack of service started hitting NimbleTV's Facebook page last week. Word spread, first through the FTABlog, then AllThingsD, that Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH) had cut off service to NimbleTV's subscribers.

"NimbleTV is not an authorized DISH retailer, and is not authorized by DISH to market or promote our services," Dish told Multichannel News.

According to AllThingsD, NimbleTV is working around the clock to restore service to its subscribers and is offering them refunds. "While we have been upfront with our customers that NimbleTV has no direct relationship with any TV provider, Dish did not want our Web site to mislead others into thinking that we might have a direct affiliation with Dish," NimbleTV's CEO Anand Subramanian told AllThingsD.

In an email to FierceOnlineVideo, a NimbleTV spokesman said the company is doing everything it can to have the service back up as soon as possible. Moreover, it is "expanding the business and will soon be adding new provider options in the U.S. and abroad."

NimbleTV seems to operate on a premise that's similar to that of Aereo: After a viewer has access to TV programming, it can do with it what it chooses. NimbleTV offers that access and the remote DVR and streaming capabilities that let subscribers record shows and watch them on certain Internet-connected devices.

For more:
FTABlog had this report
AllThingsD had this story
Multichannel News had this story

Related articles:
NimbleTV launches 'game changing' TV platform
NimbleTV begins streaming OTT TV content to mobile devices
NimbleTV pitches new TV Everywhere solution

This article was updated shortly after it was published to include a statement from NimbleTV's spokesman.