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CBS is pulling programming from Dish Network

CBS is pulling programming from Dish Network

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After months of failed negotiations, CBS has decided to pull much of its programming from the Dish Network in 16 major cities across the US, including New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The recent dispute mirrors other sour negotiations in the past, and now leaves fans of shows like The Big Bang Theory waiting for a resolution. CBS All Access is unaffected, however.

"Dish has dragged its feet at our many attempts to negotiate."

CBS and Dish have gone back and forth over their contracts for the better part of a year, and the satellite provider was even offered two extensions in recent weeks in an effort to reach some form of agreement. Unfortunately, that the deal fell through appears to be par for the course for Dish. "Dish has dragged its feet at our many attempts to negotiate in good faith," said CBS in an official statement. "Behavior like this is why Dish has a long history of depriving customers of the programing they have paid for."

Indeed, this year Dish dropped such networks as CNN and Cartoon Network over similar disputes. The company dropped AMC back in the summer of 2012, though it was able to forge a deal with the network by the following fall. It's currently unclear how long it will take for CBS programming to make a return to satellite customers.

Update, 9:15PM ET: Dish has issued a statement addressing the blackout, saying it hopes service will return to its customers soon. "CBS has chosen to black out their local channels, but remain optimistic that the channels will return quickly as both sides are continuing to work tonight to finalize an agreement." The fallout has affected 2 million of the 14 million households Dish serves.

Update, December 6th, 11:33AM ET: CBS and Dish have reached an agreement, and the network's channels are back online.