Fox, MSG RSNs Come Off Dish as It Looks to FCC
Dish Network subscribers lost access to a variety of regional sports networks (RSN) last week as the direct broadcast satellite operator failed to sign new contracts with Fox Sports and Madison Square Garden networks. It asked the FCC to step into the latter dispute and preserve its carriage of MSG’s networks while the agency considers its program access complaint. The programmers, meanwhile, are urging subscribers to switch providers. Dish’s contract to carry 19 Fox Sports RSNs, FX and the National Geographic Channel expired Sept. 30, and it’s advertising online and in print to call viewers to action. Fox is telling Dish subscribers they may also lose access to Fox-owned Fox and MyNetworkTV stations Nov. 1 if a new deal isn’t reached. Dish continues to negotiate with both Fox and MSG, a spokeswoman said.
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Fox is seeking a more than 50 percent increase to its monthly subscriber fees for the sports networks, the Dish spokeswoman said. The DBS provider doesn’t want to take on those costs, which would ultimately be passed on to consumers, she said. Fox and Dish accused each other of exhibiting a pattern of behavior around carriage negotiations that is counterproductive to reaching a deal. “They haven’t taken it seriously, and now we're at an impasse and all they want to do is point fingers,” said a Fox Sports spokesman. While Dish claimed Fox refused to let it continue carrying the networks while the parties reached a deal, Fox said the DBS company never sought an extension.
Dish’s claims to the media are “ridiculous,” said Mike Hopkins, president of Fox network affiliate sales and marketing. “Their suggestion that we're seeking a 50 percent increase in programming fees is flatly wrong,” he said. “Their tactics of promoting untrue accusations and removing programming is standard procedure for them."
A similar back-and-forth is playing out before the FCC in Dish’s dispute with MSG. In heavily-redacted pleadings before the agency last week, Dish alleged that MSG is unlawfully tying carriage of its regional sports networks to carriage of its less popular Fuse Music network. MSG denied any tying arrangement exists. “MSG has merely proposed bundling, offering a package of its programming,” it said in an opposition to Dish’s request for a standstill during the dispute. “But offering the two products together on better terms than a possible standalone agreement is not tying."
Dish and MSG also blamed each other for the impasse. “DISH should not be rewarded for its deliberate failure to negotiate in a timely and reasonable manner or its creation of the ‘emergency’ it now asserts as the basis for its request for relief,” MSG said in its opposition. Dish needs relief from the FCC soon because the NBA and NHL seasons are about to begin and MSG carries local games in the New York region, the company said in its complaint. It said it began talks in March for new MSG carriage deals. Those negotiations picked up in late August, but by Sept. 15 Dish had decided to file its program access complaint, the complaint said.
The attacks weren’t contained to the FCC pleadings. At www.GreedyMSG.com, Dish said the networks are making “outrageous demands” such as a “double-digit” rate increase. At www.IWantMSG.com, the network is urging Dish subscribers to switch providers such as incumbent cable operators Time Warner Cable or Cablevision as well as competitors RCN, Verizon and DirecTV. Fox shouldn’t put consumers in the middle of carriage disputes, said the American TV Alliance, which counts Dish as a member. “Fox’s blackout of regional sports networks and other cable channels from Dish Network puts consumers in the middle of a business dispute, the same tactic broadcast networks are using in retransmission negotiations with pay-TV providers.”