Dish drops Turner channels in carriage dispute

Warren Schlichting

US pay TV operator Dish has shelved a swathe of Turner Broadcasting channels in a carriage dispute with the channel operator.

CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, truTV, TCM, HLN, CNN en Espanol and Boomerang have all been taken off the platform.

In a statement Turner said it had offered compromises and accused Dish of acting in a ‘disruptive manner’.

“Turner has worked diligently for months to come to a fair agreement including multiple extensions and compromises, and it’s unfortunate that Dish is once again operating in a disruptive manner that takes away networks and programming from their customers,” Turner said.

It added: “We are hopeful our counterparts will return to the negotiating table, and we’ll get a deal completed.”

Dish said that the channels were removed on Monday night (October 20) after failed attempts to renew the carriage deal. It added that Turner had refused to extend the current deal.

“In the past year, Dish has successfully renewed agreements with many large content providers,” said Warren Schlichting, senior VP of programming. “As a result, we are confident that we have offered a deal to Turner that reflects an appropriate value for our customers.”

He added: “Dish has had a productive relationship with Turner Networks for many years. We regret the service disruption to our customers, and remain committed to reaching an agreement that promptly returns this content to DISH’s programming line-up.”