Nearly 20 anti-violence and women’s advocacy groups rallied Thursday at Civic Center to protest EchoStar Communications’ dropping the Lifetime channel from its Dish Network.
“The information (Lifetime provides) is critically important to women’s lives, and they need to get back on the air,” said Rita Smith, executive director of the Denver-based National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
On Wednesday, Lifetime ran a full-page ad in The Denver Post, the Rocky Mountain News and The New York Times blasting EchoStar and carrying the endorsement of 50 groups, including the national coalition.
Douglas County-based EchoStar said it was obligated to remove Lifetime and the Lifetime Movie Network when their contract expired Dec. 31.
EchoStar said Lifetime asked for a 76 percent rate increase. Lifetime officials said they asked for a 4-cent increase per subscriber per month, but neither side would provide dollar amounts.
EchoStar wrote to each of the groups in the ad.
“The dispute … is about economics, not women’s issues,” said the letter signed by Eric Sahl, senior vice president of programming.
Staff writer Kimberly S. Johnson can be reached at 303-820-1088 or kjohnson@denverpost.com.
