Dish subscribers lost several Turner Broadcasting-owned channels last Monday night due to an expired distribution agreement that was not renewed. The expired channels include CNN, Boomerang, HLN, Cartoon Network, truTV, Turner Classic Movies, and CNN en Español. (The Wall Street Journal reports that Adult Swim was also removed, but Dish’s statement does not include the channel in the list.) UPDATE: Turner confirms Adult Swim was also pulled.)
On the Dish-owned website DishStandsForYou aimed at consumer/subscriber support, Dish says “Turner is making unreasonable financial demands, and they have refused to extend the overall agreement.”
In a counterstatement, Turner says they have “worked diligently for months to come to a fair agreement including multiple extensions and compromises.” The statement added, “it’s unfortunate that Dish is once again operating in a disruptive manner that takes away networks and programming from their customers.”
Other Turner-owned channels, including TBS and TNT, have not been pulled as of yet. But apparently those distribution agreements are set to expire in the coming weeks, posing an even bigger loss to Dish subscribers who watch the popular channels.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, Multichannel
