Dish and Fox reach long-term carriage deal as dispute ends

After a 10-day impasse, Fox and Dish Network ended their carriage dispute at the weekend which had prevented millions of the satellite provider’s subscribers from watching Thursday Night Football as well as other sports programs.

The blackout, which started on September 26, affected Fox’s owned-and-operated local stations, FS1, FS2, BTN, Fox Soccer Plus and Fox Deportes in 17 markets across 23 states, as well as as subscribers of the internet-delivered bundle Sling TV.

A new “multi-year” carriage agreement was struck by the two parties in time for Sunday’s NFL matches.

In a statement, Fox said: “We are pleased to announce that we have reached an agreement with Dish and Sling, and they are immediately restoring their subscribers’ access to the Fox networks and television stations.  We are grateful to our viewers for their patience during this disruption.”

“We appreciate our customers’ patience as we worked to reach a long-term agreement that restores the Fox networks and local broadcast stations,” Dish said in a statement.