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News
Dish to Subs: Drop Free Starz For
Free Cinemax
By Swanni
Washington, D.C. (October 6,
2011) -- Dish Network is asking
subscribers to forgo its final three months of free Starz and
instead get the Cinemax channel for free during that time
period.
The request, as reported by The Los Angeles Times, was
apparently triggered by Starz's decision to sue Dish over the
free arrangement. Earlier this year, the satcaster decided
to give the premium Starz channel for free for one year as a way
to keep current subscribers and get new ones.
(The free offer began in February
and will last until February 2012 for all Dish customers.)
However, Starz was not happy with the plan, suggesting the free
offering could diminish the channel's brand as a premium
channel. The issue became more complicated this year when Dish
purchased Blockbuster in a bankruptcy auction; the satcaster is
now focused on acquiring content for its new Blockbuster
streaming program and the Starz dispute could hurt its chances
of getting shows from the channel.
It's unclear what Dish Network will do if subscribers decide to
keep their final three months of Starz rather than switch to
Cinemax for its free three. A federal judge in June rejected
Starz's request for an injunction to stop Dish from offering the
channel for free.
Phillip Swann is president and publisher
of TVPredictions.com. He has been quoted in dozens of publications
and broadcast outlets, including CNN, Fox News, Inside Edition, The
New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The
Financial Times, The Associated Press and The Hollywood Reporter. He
can be reached at swann@tvpredictions.com
or at 703-505-3064.
Click TVPredictions.com to read more news and features on TV
technology.
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