Disney on Saturday pulled 20 of its television stations — including ABC, ESPN and FX — from Dish Network and Sling TV services after the two companies failed to reach a new carriage deal.
Dish, which has a reputation for aggressive negotiations with the network, which often include wanting to temporarily lose service, has accused Disney of seeking nearly $1 billion in additional fees to extend its current contract. imposed, which ended at midnight PT on 30 September.
“Disney has taken advantage of its market position to increase fees regardless of the public viewing experience,” Brian Nelon, Dish’s executive vice president and group president, said in a statement. “Clearly, Disney insists on prioritizing greed over American audiences, especially sports fans and families with children watching their content.”
Meanwhile, Disney blamed Dish executives for its decision to pull its network from the satellite TV provider.
“After months of negotiations, Dish has declined to reach a fair, market-based agreement with us for the continued distribution of our network,” the company said in a statement. “As a result, their Dish and Sling TV customers have lost access to our unmatched portfolio of ABC-owned television stations, the ESPN network, Disney-branded channels, live sports and news from Freeform plus children’s, family and general entertainment programming. FX Network, National Geographic Channel and BabyTV.”
Cooking Reported 9.99 million pay-TV subscribers by the end of June 2022Which includes 7.79 million Dish TV subscribers and 2.20 million Sling TV subscribers.
Here is a complete list of Disney-owned networks affected by the blackout: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, Freeform, FX, FXM, FXM, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild, Nat Geo Mundo, ACC Network, SEC Network, Longhorn Network and Baby TV.