Dish Network’s deal to carry the Fox RSNs ends this summer, adding a new level of complexity to Disney’s plans to sell the channels, according to sources. Dish has a reputation for being a tough negotiator, particularly when it comes to sports channels. Dish already has opted against carrying RSNs in big markets like N.Y. and went nine months without carrying Univision and Univision Deportes in a public and nasty carriage battle. Muddying the situation for the RSNs is the fact that Fox execs no longer are negotiating these RSN deals. Fox officially ceded control of the RSNs last week as part of Disney’s deal to buy 21st Century Fox’ entertainment assets.
Sources said that Jeff Krolik, the President of the RSNs, hired a team of experienced distribution execs on an interim basis to lead these negotiations. The group is led by former Fox and Time Warner Cable exec Mike Angus. Former Fox distribution execs Chris Killebrew and Steven Hunt also will be working on the negotiations on behalf of the RSNs. The trio has decades of experience in the business and has cut hundreds of carriage deals over their careers.
The RSNs tough negotiations will not end with Dish. Within the next 18 months, the RSN affiliate agreements also need to be renegotiated with Charter, Verizon, Cox, Sling TV, YouTube TV and Wide Open West. Cable industry sources say they expect distributors to wait and see which company buys the RSNs before agreeing to any kind of long-term deal. Charter, whose deal to carry the RSNs ends this year, is owned in part by Liberty, one of the companies expected to bid on the RSNs. The deadline for binding bids is the middle of April.
