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Dish Sues Comcast/NBC to Prevent Content Blackout

As we noted this morning, Dish and NBC are the latest companies to engage in some ugly public bickering after failing to come to terms on a new programming contract. NBC has threatened to pull its content off of Dish and SlingTV by Sunday if Dish isn't willing to pay up, but Dish has now responded with a lawsuit claiming that NBC's recent media campaign against Dish violates the two companies' existing contracts.

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"NBC's public statements against DISH over the past 24 hours are in violation of the contract between the two companies," Dish said in a statement posted to the company's website. "Today, DISH filed a breach of contract lawsuit against NBC to address those violations."

According to Dish, the company says it intends to file for arbitration, which would require that NBC keep its content (which includes SyFy, Bravo, MSNBC and other channels) available during the length of the negotiations process.

"Under the conditions imposed by the FCC and Department of Justice in approving the Comcast-NBCUniversal merger, NBC is forbidden from blacking out its networks if a pay-TV provider chooses, in its sole discretion, to exercise its right for binding arbitration," claims Dish. "In the event of arbitration, affected programming would remain available during that process, and for the foreseeable future."

Comcast/NBC Universal on Monday launched a website attacking Dish for failing to meet NBC's programming cost demands. 2016 is poised to set yet another record in these kinds of contract disputes, which put customers in the middle of an ugly debate while simultaneously cutting users off from content they're paying for. The debates are usually settled when a confidential new deal is struck, and the rate hikes are quickly passed on to consumers.

Most recommended from 71 comments


RyC
join:2007-08-18
San Luis Obispo, CA

17 recommendations

RyC

Member

Sharknado!!!

I think not being able to watch Sharknado is a good thing
existenz
join:2014-02-12

12 recommendations

existenz

Member

The toxic concoction is brewing and will soon explode

There's a multi-way conflict brewing - competition from streaming, loss of PayTV subs, carriers not wanting to pay higher license fees, advertisers not sure where to focus, viewers not wanting to pay for channels they don't watch, etc.

It's all going to explode and we know how it's going to end. The content providers eventually will have to give in and release tight controls on how content is delivered. Those that don't learn to adapt deserve to die. The traditional PayTV carriers need to focus on taking OnDemand to next level and essentially match streaming services, focus less on the archaic last century schedule-based model.
davidhoffman
Premium Member
join:2009-11-19
Warner Robins, GA

9 recommendations

davidhoffman

Premium Member

Arbitration.

I find it interesting that Dish seems to be unafraid of the arbitration requirement. NBC may now be led by the kind of incompetents who continue the service disasters at Comcast. Dish may be a better player at this game than NBC thought it was. Some Dish subscribers may suffer for a short time without NBC content, but if Dish is correct NBC is going to be stuck in an arbitration situation that NBC did not prepare well for.