Dish Network Pulls Lifetime in Dispute

Due to a contract dispute, Dish Network has pulled Lifetime and Lifetime Movie Network from its basic programming package as of today, January 1, 2006. According to a release issued by Dish Network, the contract between Dish and Lifetime ended on 12/31, and Lifetime was seeking a 76% increase in rates (paid by Dish to Lifetime to carry its channels). Lifetime also wants Dish to carry another channel (presumably Lifetime Real Women) that Dish doesn't want to carry.

Lifetime puts a different spin on the above, denying the 76% increase. However, they don't talk about the Lifetime Real Women network, so our guess is that if that is factored in, this would yield the increase that Dish is listing in its release.

This is the 2nd significant Dish dispute with a network in recent months. Outdoor Life Network  (OLN), and its live NHL coverage, is no longer on Dish Network due to a dispute over which Dish programming packages would have OLN. This issue has yet to be resolved.

At the present time, the three Lifetime networks and OLN can only be found on DIRECTV.