Remember the Dish Network dispute with Viacom a little while ago? Get set for round two: Dish Network’s contract with Turner Broadcasting/Time Warner is set to expire, and Dish indicated that Turner is demanding “unreasonable rate increases”:
EchoStar Communications warned Monday it could drop programming from its DISH satellite network because of a contract dispute, this time over CNN, TBS, Cartoon Network and Headline News.
The dispute comes just over a month after EchoStar and Viacom Inc. settled a similar conflict.
EchoStar, with 9 million subscribers nationwide, said its contract with Turner Broadcasting System expired Dec. 31. The companies agreed to an extension that has kept Turner programming on the DISH network, but EchoStar spokesman Steve Caulk on Monday refused to say when that extension expires.
“If and when the (extension) agreement expires, we would then have to drop the channels in question,” Caulk said. He said Turner was seeking “unreasonable rate increases.”
A spokeswoman for Atlanta-based Turner said negotiations are under way and the company hopes an agreement can be reached. Turner Broadcasting is part of Time Warner Inc.
