Turner Broadcasting announced that they couldn't reach a deal with Echostar's Dish Network (DISH) for a new carriage agreement and as a result the feed for Court TV was pulled at 12:01 ET Monday morning, according to a report by Multichannel.com.
This means that Court TV will lose around 12 million subscribers to its show.
“We were unable to reach an agreement with EchoStar and, as a result, we had no choice but to discontinue their carriage of Court TV. They were unwilling to pay the standard industry rate for a popular network that is currently ranked in the top 20,” Turner officials said in a prepared statement issued Monday. “We are disappointed with their decision, and hope that we can reach resolution, but in the meantime, our cable operator partners and DirecTV are able to provide this network to Court TV fans.”
“We are working hard to negotiate a fair contract with Turner Networks and Court TV,” EchoStar senior VP or programming Eric Sahl responded in a prepared statement. “But we must also protect our customers from unreasonable demands. It is not fair to ask our customers to pay a DBS premium for a channel owned by the second largest cable operator, Time Warner.”
Time Warner (TWX), Turner's parent company, bought out Liberty's stake in Court TV for $735 million cash in May of 2006.
In place of Court TV, EchoStar said that it would allow its customers a complimentary preview of A&E's Biography Channel.
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