Dish Network, CBS Again Extend Carriage Contract Negotiations

Dish Network and CBS late yesterday agreed to "once again extend the deadline" for their carriage negotiations, "guaranteeing that football fans will be able to watch" CBS' coverage of the Bears-Lions game tomorrow via Dish. This marks the "second contract extension granted by CBS during the last six days." One "issue is how Dish plans to include the broadcast network in a new low-cost Internet subscription service that Dish plans to launch in the coming months" (L.A. TIMES, 11/26).

Meanwhile, the new owner of Boston's WFXT-Fox is in a "heated showdown with Verizon over a proposed rate increase to carry Fox programming." If a deal cannot be reached by tomorrow morning, the station "will go dark on Thanksgiving" for about 400,000 Verizon FiOS subscribers. Fox will air tomorrow's Eagles-Cowboys game (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/26).