Fox News, Dish Network reach deal; 2 channels return to Dish menu

Fox News Channel is back on the menu at Dish Network.

Dish, which provides satellite TV service to 14 million homes nationally, reached a new multiyear carriage agreement Thursday with the top-rated cable news channel and its sister service Fox Business Network. There are more than 500,000 subscribers in the Los Angeles area, one of Dish’s biggest markets.

Terms of the new deal were not disclosed. But a person familiar with the pact who could not speak publicly said Dish agreed to a significant rate increase for the channels.

As part of the deal, Dish will also include Fox Business Network in a channel package that makes it available to more Dish subscribers.

Fans of Fox News had been without Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity and the channel’s other popular personalities since Dec. 21, when negotiations between the two sides stalled and both Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network were pulled by Dish.

At the time, Dish said Fox News parent company 21st Century Fox attempted to tie the new carriage deal to increases for its other sports and entertainment channels covered under other contracts. They were not a factor in the Fox News Channel deal the two sides eventually reached.

Once the channels were blacked out, Fox News rallied its loyal viewership with TV spots, a website and a toll-free phone line that directed them to drop Dish for other video services. The line reportedly fielded 425,000 calls.

Dish, meanwhile, replaced Fox News with the Blaze, the conservative news-talk channel built around firebrand Glenn Beck. Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network returned to their spots on the Dish dial Thursday evening shortly after the new pact was announced.