DISH Warns Subs on Possible Channel Losses

[Gregg Lengling]

EchoStar is working through end-of-year contract skirmishes with two programmers, but the company is ready to add another local TV market for its DISH Network service.

During his monthly "Charlie Chat" with DISH Network customers Monday, EchoStar CEO Charlie Ergen said the company is trying to negotiate new carriage contracts with TNT, a Turner network, and New England Sports Network, a regional sports programmer that carries Boston Bruins hockey and Red Sox baseball. The current contracts for the two networks expire Dec. 31.

Ergen said that "at this time we are not overly optimistic" new deals can be hammered out with the two networks before the end of the year. He emphasized that EchoStar is still in negotiations with the two programmers.

On the local TV front, EchoStar will offer a local channel package to its customers in the Spokane, Wash., area beginning this week. Spokane is the 53rd market EchoStar has added to its local TV slate.

As for his company's troubled merger with small dish rival DirecTV, Ergen said it will be an "uphill climb" to overcome government resistance to the proposed combination before its merger partner can exit the deal in January. "There is a very slim chance it will go through," Ergen said.

Given the newly created Comcast cable giant, and with recently-announced rate hikes for cable companies, "We are very confident that we can go out and compete, and put the best product out there," Ergen said.