BREAKING NEWS: DISH Network Loses Outdoor Life and Speedvision,
Sees Lawsuit
A week after announcing it was carrying Outdoor Life
Network and Speedvision, EchoStar's DISH Network lost
carriage of the two channels and was served a lawsuit
by the networks' cable-backed owners.
The breach of contract claim was filed by the programmer
in Connecticut against EchoStar. In a statement, EchoStar
blamed TMJV (affiliated with Cox Communications), Comcast
Programming Ventures, Fostoria Communications (affiliated
with Media One), Daniels Properties, and TM Programming
(Times Mirror) for the loss of channels.
According to EchoStar, the companies, "appear once
again, on the news of the recent transaction between the
company and News Corp., to be attempting to undermine DISH
Network's satellite television business by withholding
some of the most requested programming through a spurious
claim of breach of contract."
EchoStar spokesman Marc Lumpkin said the special "Action
Plus" package put together for the channels did win over
some subscribers after its debut Dec. 2. The two networks
went off the air Monday. Outdoor Channel, a separate
network from Speedvision and Outdoor Life, was also part
of the package but wasn't taken off the air.
Fox/Liberty Sports, backed by News Corp. and
Tele-Communications Inc.'s Liberty Media, owns a third of
Outdoor Life and Speedvision under a deal that closed last
March. Fox/Liberty reportedly paid between $80 million and
$100 million for a stake. Cox kept its one-third ownership
while the remaining owners hold the other third interest.
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