FCC Chairman Welcomes Fox/Dish Deal

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski gave a shout-out to Fox and Dish Friday for coming to agreement on a new retransmission consent/carriage deal, including restoring some Fox cable nets (including regional sports nets) that had been off Dish.

He called on Fox and Cablevision to follow suit.

"I welcome the news that Fox and Dish Network have agreed to extend their contract for carriage of Fox TV stations on Dish's satellite system," he said in a statement. "Their current contract was slated to expire at midnight this Sunday, and the extension ensures that there will be no interruption of Dish subscribers' ability to view the programming of these Fox stations.

"I am pleased that Fox and Dish have kept in mind their responsibility to protect consumers from blackouts when they negotiate carriage terms," he said, "I urge Fox and Cablevision to complete their negotiations and end the impasse that has disrupted service to viewers."

Fox stations have been off Cablevision systems serving New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia since Oct. 16.

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.