DISH notifies NBCUniversal of intent to arbitrate in retrans row


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Editor

| 20 March 2016




DISH Network has notified NBCUniversal and the US regulator the Federal Communications Commission of its intent to request arbitration to determine the terms and conditions of a renewed distribution agreement.



dishThe move is the latest in a retrans row between the satellite operator and the content giant, which started when DISH filed a breach-of-contract lawsuit against NBCUniversal in the US District Court in Illinois. Under the terms of the initial suit, if a deal had not been done by 20 March, Dish customers were at risk of losing access to NBCUniversal-owned cable networks such as USA, Bravo, Syfy, CNBC and MSNBC, as well as NBCUniversal-owned NBC and Telemundo stations in local markets, including Los Angeles, New York, Dallas, Chicago and Miami.

The arbitration notice triggers a mandatory 10-day cooling off period, during which DISH and NBCUniversal can continue negotiating and affected programming is required to remain available to DISH customers.

“DISH is committed to reaching a new distribution agreement with NBCUniversal and to not disrupt customers in the process,” the company said in a statement. “This 10-day cooling off period is an opportunity for continued negotiations while guaranteeing that NBCU cannot black out its networks to DISH customers. “We remain hopeful that we can reach a mutually beneficial agreement that benefits all parties, including our viewers.”

DISH added that if at the end of the cooling off period it had not reached an agreement with NBCU, it would have up to five days to formally request arbitration. It assured that in the event of arbitration, affected programming would remain available during that process, and for the foreseeable future.