Satellite company says Disney demands ‘unreasonable rates’

Dish said that the Fox Regional Sports Networks have been blacked out to Dish and Sling subscribers.

The 16 sports channels are currently owned by The Walt Disney Co., but Disney has a deal to sell them to a group led by Sinclair.

Already dark on Dish are stations owned by Meredith Corp. after the companies failed to reach an agreement after a one-day extension on July 15.

Dish also faces a blackout on the FX and Nation Geographic channels Disney acquired from 21st Century Fox. Those are current available to subscribers via a temporary extension.

Dish claims that Disney is demanding unreasonable rates and want the on a tier that would force subscribers to pay for them whether they watch them or not. Dish also said Disney rejected a short-term extension that called for the new rate to be paid retroactively.

“The regional sports TV business model is broken,” said Andy LeCuyer, Dish senior vice president of programming. “It relies on the majority of customers subsidizing the slim minority who actually watch these channels. RSNs should be like a ticket to the ballpark – fans who want to watch the game should be the ones who pay for it.”

Dish seems to want to put the RSNs on a sports tier.

“Sports programming is the most expensive content on TV. Networks pay the sports teams huge amounts of money, then try to recoup it from a broad base of consumers,” said LeCuyer. “It’s time to change the status quo.”

The Fox Regional Sports Networks removed from the DISH lineup are:

• Fox Sports Arizona
• Fox Sports Cincinnati
• Fox Sports Detroit
• Fox Sports Florida
• Fox Sports Midwest
• Fox Sports North
• Fox Sports Ohio
• Fox Sports Prime Ticket
• Fox Sports San Diego
• Fox Sports South
• Fox Sports Southeast
• Fox Sports Southwest
• Fox Sports SportsTime Ohio
• Fox Sports Sun
• Fox Sports West
• YES Network (Sling TV only)