The battle between Fox and Dish Network ended on Thursday when the two companies were able to reach a deal that heavily favored the cable news network.
Following an intense dispute over the cause of a Fox News blackout on Dec. 21, Dish will now pay Fox $1.50 per subscriber per month, a 50 percent increase from its previous deal, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Dish has also reportedly agreed to place the Fox Business Network next to Fox News in the lower tier service option on its dial, which should help bring more viewers to the channel.
Official terms of the five-year-deal were not disclosed.
“We thank the viewers of Fox News and Fox Business and Dish customers for their patients throughout this process,” Tim Carry, Fox News and Fox Business executive vice president of distribution, and Warren Schlichting, Dish’s senior vice president of programming, said in a joint statement.
Following the brief blackout, Fox began an ad campaign featuring reporters Bill O’Reilly and Megyn Kelly accusing the cable provider of censoring important news.
Dish fired back, accusing Fox of extortion and said that the news channel went dark because Fox would not agree to a short-term extension amid negotiations on the night of Dec. 20 to avoid a blackout, Variety reported.
Fox said more than 178,000 calls of complaint have been registered with the toll-free line Fox established for viewers in response to the Dish dispute, along with over 140,000 emails, Variety reported.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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