DISH subscribers now have their Fox channels back on their satellite TV service and will not face an interruption of the World Series.
Fox, which had already pulled its regional sports channels and others from DISH a month ago over a contract dispute, had threatened to pull the Fox broadcast network via local affiliates as of Monday, Nov. 1.
Dish Network and Fox Networks announced moments ago (Friday, Oct. 29) that the companies have reached a wide-ranging and long-term distribution agreement to provide DISH and its subscribers with continued access to programming from Fox Broadcasting and Fox local television stations in major cities. The agreement also includes carriage of FX, National Geographic Channel, and Fox’s 19 regional sports networks, which were immediately restored on the system Friday.
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
“We thank our customers, our retail and channel partners, and our employees for their support through these negotiations…,” said Dave Shull, Senior Vice President of Programming for DISH.
“I want to thank our partners at DISH Network who worked tirelessly to help us reach a successful conclusion,” said Mike Hopkins, President, Fox Networks Affiliate Sales and Marketing.
The agreement ensures that DISH Network viewers will continue to have access to Fox’s live national and regional coverage of major sporting events including Major League Baseball’s World Series, the NFL on FOX, the NBA, the NHL, college football and basketball, as well as popular entertainment programming on FOX, such as Glee, House, and The Simpsons; Sons of Anarchy and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia on FX; and the Border Wars and the upcoming Great Migrations on National Geographic Channel.
DISH is still in an even longer-running dispute with Disney that has resulted in subscribers being unable to get channels such as ESPNews and Disney Channel in HiDef since June.
— By Scott Hettrick