Dish, Comcast SportsNet CA Strike Carriage Deal

Dish Network and Comcast SportsNet California have struck a carriage deal, according to the satellite network.
The deal means Sacramento Kings, San Jose Sharks, and ultimately, Oakland As, games will be returning to the
Dish lineup.

The two also agreed to end pending arbitration proceedings at the FCC. Terms were not disclosed, but it was the
second carriage deal in as many days.

Dish struck a carriage deal Tuesday with WGXA-TV Macon, Ga. (Fox), and its digital multicast channel programmed
as an ABC affiliate.

The DBS provider dropped the regional sports network Nov. 24 after it lost a baseball-style arbitration for its proposal before a Federal Communications Commission arbitrator Nov 23. Dish had initiated the arbitration under a condition imposed on Comcast's (and Time Warner Cable's) purchase of Adelphia Communications out of bankruptcy.
The parties have been out of contract since September 2009, but CSN California had remained on DISH until November.

Mike Reynolds contributed to this report.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.