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Comcast ( CMCSA )-owned NBCUniversal is turning up the heat on satellite TV broadcaster Dish Network ( DISH ) amid contract renewal talks for programming. Dish Network already is facing tough negotiations with Viacom ( VIA ). Comcast, on the other side as a pay-TV provider, has been in a dispute with sports channel YES Network over programming fees. NBCU has launched a marketing campaign warning viewers they could be blacked out on Dish Network by March 20, says Broadcasting & Cable . NBCU owns cable channels USA Network, Syfy, Bravo, CNBC and MSNBC. Dish on Tuesday afternoon said it expects to file for arbitration in the dispute with NBCU. “Under the conditions imposed by the FCC and Department of Justice in approving the Comcast-NBCUniversal merger, NBC is forbidden from blacking out its networks if a pay-TV provider chooses, in its sole discretion, to exercise its right for binding arbitration,” Dish said in a statement. Viacom’s 24 cable networks, meanwhile, include MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. Dish Network has had disputes with CBS ( CBS ), 21st Century Fox ( FOXA ) and Time Warner’ s ( TWX ) Turner Broadcasting unit. Comcast is at an impasse with YES Network. Fox took majority control of the YES Network in 2014 from the New York Yankees’ parent company. The Comcast-YES Network dispute affects about 900,000 Comcast customers in New Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. According to an Oppenheimer research report, Fox Networks sought a 33% fee increase for YES programming. Walt Disney ’s ( DIS ) ESPN garners the highest content fees. “We believe programming costs will rise sharply in the near term but will moderate in the longer term as lower advertising revenues and cord cutting weaken the bargaining power of the content providers and ultimately break the paid-TV model,” wrote Oppenheimer analyst Tim Horan. “Programming costs have risen at three times the growth rate of (cable company) revenues during the last five years.” Scalper1 News
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