A dispute with Dish Networks comes a few months after the acquisition of Time Warner by AT & T

HBO experienced its first phone outage in 46 years, after its programs were removed from Dish Network's satellite and satellite services. The power outage is a result of the owner's claims of HBO, AT & T, that Dish pays a guaranteed number of subscribers for the content network. Under the terms of the proposed deal, Dish should pay HBO if it misses the mark. Dish and AT & T blamed each other for pulling the programs.

The controversy comes five months after a judge ruled on an antitrust case between AT & T and the Department of Justice over the acquisition of Time Warner, HBO's proprietary media conglomerate. The DOJ had lobbied the companies for them to either sell Turner Broadcasting, owned by Time Warner, or DirecTV, owned by AT & T, to prevent the merged company from having access to the company. a competitive advantage too important. At the time, Dish backed the government's action, arguing that the acquisition would give its rival, DirecTV, an unfair advantage.

During the trial, the Department of Justice argued that the acquisition would hurt competition and increase consumers' television bills. AT & T argued that it had to compete with big tech companies such as Facebook and Amazon. The US District Court Judge, Richard Leon, finally ruled that AT & T was legally allowed to buy Time Warner Inc. and disagreed with the GM's argument that AT & T would use its market power to harm its competitors.

"The merger created the merger for AT & T, a tremendous power over consumers," said Andy LeCuyer, Dish's senior vice president of programming, in a statement about the blackout. He also warned that AT & T had "the power to recover more money or steal customers" and that future blackouts could occur.

"In our more than 40 years of operation, HBO has always been able to reach an agreement with our valued distributors and our services have never been removed or made inaccessible to subscribers because of the inability to conclude an agreement, "said HBO in his own statement. "Unfortunately, Dish makes the task extremely difficult, reacting to our attempts in good faith with unreasonable conditions." The company further asserted that the merger had no bearing on the current dispute, stating that Dish could have "extended the deal with terms negotiated with HBO" prior to the merger discussions.

Dish asked that the dispute be settled by arbitration. About a fifth of Dish's 13 million customers subscribe to HBO. They will not have to pay a subscription fee during the outage. The company is also in contractual conflict with Univision, and the network has not been broadcast on Dish in recent months.