[holden]

I'm suspicious someone indicated to Dish that their losses would be backstopped, for political reasons.

For Dish consciously to make purely business decisions to endure the volume of subscriber defections, stress to its customer service department, loss of anticipated revenue, and reputationally--all-the-more after the TCM debacle--going about its negotiation with Fox so as to incur less downside risk should have been the obvious choice and relatively easy to effect. What Dish did, by contrast, seems self-destructive and irrational, which forces me to consider the political possibilities.

HF

[Widows Son]

I have worked for dish, they treat their employees, customers, and programming providers worse than trash. I would do without any TV at all if they were the only option.
Dish has been having these issues with networks for years.
Notice that Direct never does?

[Balding_Eagle]

In Middle of Fox News Blackout, Docs Reveal Dish Chairman Donated Thousands to Dems

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3247293/posts

[SoothingDave]

Was it also political last fall when CNN was gone during their negotiations?

It’s business, not politics.