REUTERS/Stephanie Keith
A blackout will keep HBO and Cinemax off the air of one of its biggest distributors.
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The signal for the AT&T-owned channels went dark on satellite distributor Dish and its sister service Sling TV as of midnight Thursday when the two sides could not come to terms on a new distribution agreement, according to Dow Jones Newswires.
Dish alone represents 2.5 million subscribers for HBO.
It is the first time HBO’s 40 year history that it has gone dark on a pay-TV provider.
AT&T, which acquired HBO’s parent company Time Warner earlier this year, also owns DirecTV and DirecTV Now.
In a statement to Dow Jones, HBO said Dish has been “extremely difficult” in negotiations by “responding to our good faith attempts with unreasonable terms.”
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Dish fired back by saying HBO’s new owner, AT&T, is the one making onerous demands and looking to harm distributors so it can favor its own services, including Dish rival DirecTV.
Removing channels has become a negotiation tactic as programmers and distributors look for leverage in affiliate agreements.
Dish has shown in the past that it isn’t afraid to drop channels during contract disputes. Over the past few years, networks dropped by Dish include Fox News, CBS and local TV station owners Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. and Tribune Media Co. All eventually reached new agreements with Dish, according to Dow Jones.
DISH suggested using binding, baseball-style arbitration to determine the fair market value of HBO and Cinemax.
