MUMBAI: American pay TV network Dish has ended its contract with women's network Lifetime which runs two channels. Dish TV's parent Echostar was not able to reach an agreement with Lifetime.
EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen says, "While Dish Network desires to make Lifetime programming available to its customers, we also must protect our customers from exorbitant rate increases."
Lifetime on its part says that Dish refused its offer of a temporary contract extension to allow women to watch the network through the holiday season.
Lifetime Entertainment Services president and CEO Betty Cohen says, "We are outraged and dismayed for our viewers that Dish has unilaterally chosen to pull Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network and deny millions of women
their favourite channels. We value our viewers' loyalty and don't understand why Dish would take away the most popular women's networks, especially over a holiday weekend.
"We regret the disruption of service our viewers are experiencing, but appreciate all of the support they are already showing and we hope Dish network will listen to them and give them back their Lifetime."
Echostar replaced the Lifetime programming with a preview of Women's Entertainment Network programming. Dish also ran a message on the bottom of viewers' screens explaining the dispute