Ongoing contract negotiations between Dish Network and NBCUniversal will take a 10 day “cooling off period” following a public tussle in front of Dish subscribers.
Douglas County’s and the Federal Communications Commission of its “intent to request arbitration as the two companies attempt to renew a contract. In doing so, a 10-day cooling off period is triggered so negotiations can continue and Dish customers can still watch NBC programs without the network pulling the shows and causing a blackout in service.
This comes for breach of contract. The breach, Dish alleged in the lawsuit, involved the TV network for tweeting and running ads in front of consumers about contract negotiations.
Dish had faced , as the TV network pulled its programming when talks stalled. Dish founder and CEO Charlie Ergen has said that Dish won’t overpay for programming, especially because it knows exactly how many people are watching the channel.
In a statement Friday, Dish said, “If, at the end of the cooling off period, we have not reached an agreement with NBCU, we will have up to five days to formally request arbitration. In the event of arbitration, affected programming would remain available during that process, and for the foreseeable future. We remain hopeful that we can reach a mutually beneficial agreement that benefits all parties, including our viewers.”
