LOS ANGELES — Satellite TV operator Dish Network Corp. said Friday that News Corp.’s Fox television unit cut its access to 19 regional sports networks, FX and the National Geographic Channel after Dish refused to pay for a rate increase of more than 50 percent.
Fox Sports Rocky Mountain is still available because it’s owned by Liberty Media. Liberty Media acquired Fox Sports Rocky Mountain, Pittsburgh and Northwest as part of a stock-for-asset swap in 2007 with News Corp.
In a related development, Douglas County-based Dish also stopped carrying MSG and MSG Plus, affecting New York-area sports fans, saying it refused to accept a “double digit” percentage rate-hike proposal linked to carrying MSG sister channel Fuse, which it called a “low-rated music video channel.” Dish, controlled by billionaire Charlie Ergen, called Fox’s rate hike demand “unprecedented” and said it was driven by what Fox has paid for the rights to exclusive TV coverage of sports in local markets. Their multiyear deal expired at midnight Thursday.
The dispute means that a portion of Dish’s more than 14.3 million subscribers will be unable to watch early-season hockey games while the fight continues.
“I can’t continue financing their war chest to keep on buying these rights,” said Dave Shull, Dish’s senior vice president of programming. Passing on programming-cost increases to its subscribers would go against the company’s main selling point, he said.
Fox spokesman Scott Grogin said Dish’s claim about its demands was “absurd,” and said the fee demands were “consistent with our agreements with hundreds of other cable and satellite providers.”
