With EchoStar (DISH) chairman and CEO Charlie Ergen implying that he may pull Court TV off of the network for good at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas if they aren't able to come up with a deal, time may be quickly running out on making an agreement to continue carriage. Echostar wanted a deal in place by February 1.
As of today there is no agreement in place with both sides confirming the fact. Neither would say if they were still in negotiations.
When there was no agreement in place, Ergen pulled Court TV from its carriage almost immediately after the stroke of midnight on January 1. From that time the network has had its subscription base drop by 12 percent. Originally it was at 87.7 million and now is figured to be around 76 million.
What's really interesting is that in spite of the blackout and drop in subscription base, Court TV has actually grown to its highest viewed month in it 15-year history. From last year's, January they have increased viewership by 21 percent with a nightly average of 1.16 million. For the 18-49 demo, the network increased it viewers by 26 percent, averaging 523,000 in prime time watching.
Now that's a strategy! Lose 13 percent of your base and break viewer records.
As Mediaweek says concerning the issue, it "is EchoStar’s desire to shift Court TV from its most highly penetrated tier, 'America’s Top 60,' to the 'Top 120' level, a move that would cost the net some 3 million subs. Under the terms of Court TV’s current rate card, the net would have to raise its license fee by up to 70 percent in order to adjust for the loss of those subs."
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