Carriage Disputes
On August 4, 2009, Dish Network sued ESPN for $1 million in a federal lawsuit, alleging that it had breached its contract by not extending the same carriage terms the programmer provided to Comcast and DirecTV for ESPNU and ESPN Classic. The lawsuit claims ESPN violated the "Most Favored Nations" clause.
The next day, ESPN announced they will fight the lawsuit and said in a press release which stated that "We have repeatedly advised Dish that we are in full compliance with our agreement and have offered them a distribution opportunity with respect to ESPNU and ESPN Classic consistent with the rest of the industry. We will not renegotiate settled contracts and will vigorously defend this legal action, the apparent sole purpose of which is to get a better deal."
Dish Network moved ESPNU from its "America's Top 250" package to its "America's Top 120" package on September 30, 2009. However they claim it has nothing to do with the lawsuit.
On June 22, 2010, The Walt Disney Company (owner of ESPN) pulled ESPNews HD, Disney Channel HD, Disney XD HD and ABC Family HD from the Dish Network channel list; although, the standard definition channels remained.
The most common reason for these disputes is rights fees; see the Cost section below.
Read more about this topic: Criticism Of ESPN
Famous quotes containing the word carriage:
“That the townspeople might better see him, the President was persuaded to leave his carriage by the inducement that the ladies wished to get a look at him. ‘By Gad,’ he repied, ‘I’d like to see your ladies,’ and alighted.”
—For the State of New Hampshire, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)