Dish Network and Fox News have announced a multi-year agreement for carriage of Fox News Channel and Fox Business. The networks were pulled from Dish on Dec. 21, after the two companies could not come to an agreement. According to Fox News, 90,000 subscribers had dropped Dish in the first two weeks of the blackout. FNC’s ratings also took a hit during its time away from Dish Network.
“We thank the viewers of FOX News and FOX Business and DISH customers for their patience throughout this process,” said Tim Carry, FOX EVP of distribution, and Warren Schlichting, Dish’s SVP of programming. FNC’s 25 days off Dish, follow the removal of several Time Warner channels late last year. CNN, HLN and the other networks were restored on Nov. 21 after a month of being off the satellite carrier.
Update: The Wall Street Journal is reporting that, while terms of the deal weren’t officially disclosed, Dish is paying a significant increase for FNC. The average monthly free for FNC is reportedly about $1.00 per subscriber, but Dish would pay an average of roughly $1.50 per subscriber under the new agreement.