Dish, a satellite TV service provider, has dropped Fox News and Fox Business, according to the Wall Street Journal. That leaves Glenn Beck’s TheBlaze as the satellite service’s premier conservative news and opinion channel, at least for a while.
The split between Dish and Fox News and Fox Business came Saturday “after the parties couldn’t agree on terms of a new distribution pact,” according to the Journal.
Dish claims the two channels’ parent company, 21st Century Fox Inc., attempted to use the negotiations to also increase programming fees for other sports and entertainment channels.
Dish picked up TheBlaze’s political news and opinion programming in late 2012. TheBlaze has struggled since to get picked up by other big distributors, like Comcast.
A similar dispute occurred earlier in December between Dish and CBS. After failing on a distribution agreement, CBS was removed from Dish’s programming but was added back several hours later when the conflict was resolved.
With Fox News’ massive ratings, though less so for Fox Business’, the rift between Dish and 21st Century Fox Inc. will likely be resolved.
In the meantime, TheBlaze may very well benefit from the situation. Glenn Beck now hosts an hour-long show on TheBlaze. Formerly, he hosted a show on Fox News.
Full disclosure: This reporter used to work for TheBlaze’s news website.
