Court TV Pulled from DISH Network

ENGLEWOOD, January 2: Court TV was pulled from DISH Network
yesterday after parent companies Turner Broadcasting System and EchoStar failed
to agree on new carriage terms.

“We were unable to reach an agreement with EchoStar and, as
a result, we had no choice but to discontinue their carriage of Court TV,” Turner said in a statement. “They were unwilling
to pay the standard industry rate for a popular network that is currently
ranked in the Top 20. We are disappointed with their decision, and hope that we
can reach resolution, but in the meantime, our cable operator partners and
DIRECTV are able to provide this network to Court TV fans.”

EchoStar, whose DISH Network has some 13 million
subscribers, said it has been “working hard” to reach a deal with Turner, “But
we must also protect our customers from unreasonable demands. It is not fair to
ask our customers to pay a DBS premium for a channel owned by the second
largest cable operator, Time Warner.”