Dish Network Drops NFL Network
June 16 2016 - 10:30PM
Dow Jones News
Dish Network Corp. has dropped the NFL Network, the National
Football League-owned channel that has exclusive rights to eight
Thursday night football games.
The channel went dark in seven million Dish homes Thursday night
after the two sides were unable to come to terms on a new
distribution contract for the service, which is one of the most
expensive to carry. According to media industry consulting firm SNL
Kagan, the NFL Network has a monthly fee of $1.31 per
subscriber.
Besides carrying eight Thursday games exclusively, the channel
also shares broadcast rights to 10 other Thursday games with NBC
and CBS. In addition, its programming includes news and information
on all things NFL. The network is also starting to offer more
original programming as well. However, when it doesn't have a game
on, ratings for the NFL Network tend to be very small.
Dish has in the past railed against the rising costs of sports
channels. While it carries ESPN and other sports outlets, it steers
clear of most regional sports networks that carry local baseball,
basketball and hockey. Like other pay-TV distributors, Dish has
offered the NFL Network on a specialty tier of channels instead of
requiring that all of its 14 million customers pay for it.
The NFL said Dish is the first distributor to drop the channel
in its 13-year history. If the dispute isn't resolved in the fall,
Dish will also no longer carry the NFL's RedZone service, which is
a specialty channel that carries live action of all games every
Sunday throughout the regular season.
A Dish network spokesman said, "We remain open to a fair offer
that allows us to carry this content at an appropriate value to our
customers."
This is the second time this week Dish has gotten in a fight
over fees with a large programmer. On Sunday, it stopped carrying
local TV stations and WGN America, a cable channel owned by Tribune
Media Co. after a deal couldn't be reached.
Write to Joe Flint at joe.flint@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 16, 2016 22:15 ET (02:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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