DISH-Fox Contract Ends, News & Business Channels Dropped - Analyst Blog

DISH Network Corp.'s (DISH) 14 million satellite-TV customers are now on the receiving end of a spat between the former and Fox. Two of the most viewed channels in the country – Fox News and Fox Business Network – were taken off air from DISH's offering after the two parties failed to reach an agreement ahead of the expiry of their contract on Sunday.

DISH Network and New York-based Fox are now caught in a blame game regarding the blackout of the channels. DISH has accused Fox of introducing new channels that were not part of the contract slated for renewal, thus violating contract negotiations. Fox, on its part, maintained that they were willing to renew the contract on similar terms but DISH Network's demands were different. Moreover, Fox charged DISH Network for prematurely shutting down service 10 minutes before the scheduled time of contract expiry.

In recent times, DISH has been facing contract renewal issues with several other cable TV content providers. Last month, the company had a similar setback with CBS Corporation (CBS) which resulted in a brief shutdown of few local CBS stations.      

DISH has been persistently losing pay-TV customers. A failure to come to terms with Fox might result in further customer churn and falling average revenue per user in the coming quarter. Last quarter, the company lost 12,000 pay-TV subscribers. Average monthly pay-TV subscriber churn rate in the third quarter stood at 1.67% compared with 1.66% in the prior-year quarter.

DISH currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

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Better-ranked stocks worth considering in this sector include Liberty Global plc (LBTYA) and Comcast Corporation (CMCSA). Liberty Global sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), whereas Comcast hold a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).