Dish Network has stopped carrying four HD channels from Walt Disney Co. — Disney Channel HD, Disney XD HD, ABC Family HD and ESPNews HD — claiming the programmer is asking for "significant" carriage fees. Disney said Dish did not ever have a deal in place to carry those channels.
The standard-definition versions of those four channels are still available on Dish.
"Dish Network offers all customers ‘HD Free for Life,' which is possible because we are committed to negotiating fair contracts that allow us to keep our prices low," the satellite operator said in a statement. "That is why we could not agree to the significant fees requested by Disney and ESPN Networks for the HD feeds of Disney East, Disney XD, ESPNews and ABC Family."
