Turner channels return to Dish Network
The companies also have agreed to extend carriage of TBS and TNT, Turner’s most popular channels
CNN, Cartoon Network and other Turner Broadcasting channels have returned to Dish Network’s satellite television service as part of a shortterm accord between the two fighting media companies.
After a monthlong blackout, Dish and Turner said on Friday that they have “mutually decided” to restore service of the channels, including Adult Swim, Turner Classic Movies and HLN. Dish removed the channels after the two companies could not agree on a new pact — or even a deadline extension. The companies also have agreed to extend carriage of TBS and TNT, Turner’s most popular channels, to allow the parties to continue negotiating a long- term deal.
The companies’ extension — which lasts for several months, according to two people familiar with the matter — will prevent TBS and TNT from going dark when the contract expires on December 5. Alarmed viewers had taken to social media to complain, threatening to cancel their Dish service if they lost access to programming.
Timing of the extension is important. Turner’s sports programming includes the NCAA March Madness tournament, and neither company wanted to risk alienating fans.
The blackout of CNN came at an inopportune time, during the midterm congressional elections and a fierce snowstorm in the Northeast. News viewers were not pleased.
Fans of Turner Classic Movies, a channel that runs old movies without commercial in- terruptions, were another vocal constituency.
“To just pull the Turner channel off the air like that was wrong,” said Karen Vondrak, who lives near Cleveland. “It made me mad and upset. I rely on that channel; it doesn’t have stuff like Transformers with bullets coming out of people’s heads. That’s fine for the kids but I love the old movies.”
Vondrak, 65, was thrilled on Friday with the return of the Turner channels. “I love CNN too. They do a good job with upto- the- minute news,” Vondrak said. “I like my iPad but I would rather get my news from the TV.”
Bone of contention
The dispute between the Dish and Turner, owned by Time Warner Inc, has been contentious. Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen told Wall Street analysts this month that he wasn’t sure that CNN was still a must- carry network.
The issue is not insignificant for Turner. Dish has more than 14 million subscribers, making it one of the largest pay- TV providers in the country.