AT & T, owner of HBO and DirecTV, allows HBO not to talk about Dish in Money Bat

HBO and Cinemax, owned by AT & T, were removed from Dish's satellite TV service and from Dish's Sling TV streaming service as a result of a financial dispute, marking the first blackout of the company. HBO electricity in 46 years of existence.

In June, US District Court Judge Richard Leon authorized AT & T to finalize its purchase of Time Warner Inc., owner of HBO and Cinemax, claiming that there was no reason to believe that AT & T would use its market power to harm TV providers or rival consumers. AT & T also owns DirecTV, Dish's main competitor in the satellite television sector.

Dish said that AT & T had removed HBO from Dish and Sling TV, while HBO said Dish had removed the channel from its services as a trading tactic. Dish said its customers would get billing credits for the time they could not access HBO or Cinemax.

Dish blames AT & T / Time Warner merger

Dish said today that the power outage proved that AT & T 's HBO ownership was bad for rival consumers and television providers.

"AT & T has made an unprecedented decision to remove Dish and Sling TV subscribers from HBO and Cinemax, after making untenable requests specifically designed to harm customers, particularly those in rural areas, as well as harming competing pay-TV operators, "Dish wrote.

HBO challenged this characterization, telling Ars that Dish had interrupted its signal even though Dish could have continued to carry HBO under the previous negotiated terms before AT & T bought it. HBO also said Dish had a history of power outages, including with Fox News, CBS, the Sinclair broadcast group, Tribune Media Company and an ongoing power failure of Univision.

Andy LeCuyer, Senior Vice President of Dish Programming, released this statement:

The merger creates for AT & T a huge power over consumers. It seems that AT & T is implementing a new strategy to close recently acquired content to other distributors. This is perhaps the first of many HBO power outages for consumers across the country. AT & T is no longer encouraged to hear at the consumer's choice; instead, he was given the power to recover more money or steal customers.

Dish said that "AT & T is asking Dish to pay a guaranteed number of subscribers, regardless of the number of consumers wishing to subscribe to HBO." Dish said he was ready to enter into binding arbitration with HBO.

HBO says he's offered a good deal

HBO stated that it offered Dish more favorable terms than Dish's in the previous contract. Dish's statement says it's seeking a price cut, claiming that "the HBO market has changed since its last signing in 2015," because "HBO has set the market price at $ 15 per month. with the launch of the direct broadcast service -consumer HBO Now service. "

HBO urged viewers to "take advantage of other ways to access an HBO subscription." This would involve switching to another pay-TV operator such as DirecTV, subscribing to an online HBO Now streaming subscription, or purchasing an AT & T mobile subscription bundled with HBO.

HBO provided this statement to Ars:

During our more than forty years of operation, HBO has always been able to reach an agreement with our valuable distributors and our services have never been deleted or made inaccessible to subscribers because of their inability to reach an agreement . Unfortunately, Dish makes the task extremely difficult, responding to our attempts in good faith with unreasonable terms. Past behaviors show that the removal of their clients' services has become a much too common trading tactic for them. We hope the situation with Dish will change soon, but in the meantime, our valued customers should take advantage of other ways to access an HBO subscription in order to continue enjoying our acclaimed programming.

HBO's "Keep My HBO" site tells viewers that "Dish has abandoned your HBO & Cinemax channel" and is directing them to other providers.

Fusion controversy

Last year, the Trump administration's Justice Department sued AT & T for blocking its acquisition of Time Warner, saying it would "hinder rivals by forcing them to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more." per year for the networks of Time Warner ", and to increase the prices of American networks. consumers.

AT & T told the court that the purchase of Time Warner would allow it to lower TV prices – but AT & T raised the base price of its DirecTV Now streaming service by $ 5 a month. long after the merger.

The Trump administration is appealing its loss in court, which could theoretically force AT & T and Time Warner to cancel the merger.

The consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge has stated that HBO's failure on Dish illustrates the problems associated with merging and consolidating the media in general. "In opposition to the AT & T / Time Warner agreement, opponents, including the Department of Justice, predicted that the newly merged company would be encouraged to retain content and gain more weight in Negotiations such as this one, "John Bergmayer, Senior Advisor for Public Knowledge," It's because AT & T will benefit if customers, frustrated by the absence of their favorite shows of the HBO channel, let Dish move to DirecTV.As an independent company, Time Warner had no incentive to retain the HBO content in these situations prior to the merger. "

Dish is complaining today that the victory in the AT & T courts has allowed the merger without any conditions that could have forced AT & T to "play honestly … for subscribers of HBO and Cinemax, regardless of their pay-TV provider ".

Dish said its customer base was mainly in rural areas where broadband access was limited. AT & T is "anti-competitive" by "intentionally punishing those who do not have access to broadband in major cities, in order to push customers to turn to the only other satellite provider, its own DirecTV" said Dish.

"AT & T is multiplying free offers for wireless customers and cutting prices for streaming services, trying to force Dish to subsidize HBO on AT & T platforms," ​​said LeCuyer. "This is the anti-competitive behavior that critics of the AT & T-Time Warner merger warned us about, and all pay-TV companies should be concerned."

HBO denied that the dispute was related to the merger, stating to Ars that "Dish could have extended the agreement with the terms negotiated with HBO well before any discussion of the AT & T merger. nothing to do with the merger / trial. "