Azernews.Az

By Bloomberg

Fox News, the most-watched U.S. cable news network, is urging viewers to cancel their Dish Network Corp. subscriptions after its signals were dropped from the satellite- TV provider’s system in a fee dispute.

The network, part of Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox Inc., stopped airing in the homes 14 million Dish subscribers as of Dec. 21. The Fox Business Network also went dark after the two companies failed to negotiate new contract terms.

The New York-based broadcaster today introduced a website, keepfoxnews.com, that allows visitors to type in their zip code and find other pay-TV operators. Tim Carry, senior vice president for affiliate relations at the network, said the site has generated 22,000 e-mails and 7,000 phone calls requesting that Dish reinstate the channel.

“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure our customers can switch providers as quickly as possible,” Carry said in an interview. The terms Fox offered the company are similar to deals cut with other cable and satellite-TV operators, he said.

“We regret the service disruption to our customers, and remain committed to reaching an agreement that promptly returns this content to Dish’s programming lineup,” Warren Schlichting, Dish senior vice president of programming, said in a statement. Bob Toevs, a spokesman for Dish, said he had nothing more to add.

The Fox News disconnect is the third time in as many months that Dish has lost channels in a contract dispute. CBS Corp. pulled its flagship network briefly from Dish on Dec. 5 before reaching a long-term accord restoring service a few hours later.

Several Turner Broadcasting channels, including CNN and Cartoon Network, went dark on Dish in October. The two sides agreed Nov. 21 to extend service for several months while they worked out a long-term deal.

Fox News has attracted an average nightly audience of 1.86 million viewers in prime time so far this television season, according to Nielsen data. On Dec. 20, Dish reached a multiyear agreement with Comcast Corp.’s SportsNet to keep regional sports networks on the air.

Dish, based in Englewood, Colorado, is the third-largest U.S. pay-TV service.