Dish and Sling subscribers can no longer watch the Braves and other regional teams as Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Southeast have been dropped by the carriers in a contract dispute.
As of noon Friday, Dish and Sling no longer carry 21 of the Fox Sports regional networks.
Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Southeast are the primary carriers of the Braves, airing 154 this year, the Hawks and some Atlanta United games. The first-place Braves open a three-game series against the Phillies on Friday night.
Dish and other providers pays fees to owners of channels and passes those costs to consumers. Most of the time, those deals are negotiated behind the scenes. Every so often, networks decide to play hardball by publicizing the dispute and occasionally pulling off blackouts in hopes viewers would blame the service provider.
A statement from Fox Sports Regional Networks stated: “The Fox RSN’s offered to extend Dish and Sling under the current terms of our existing agreement, but Dish and Sling rejected our offer. We know fans are looking forward to the broadcasts of the stretch run of baseball season, and we hope Dish and Sling act to return this programming to their customers.”
Dish had a previous conflict with Fox Sports that lasted from 2013-15 and kept 50 weekend Braves off the air over three seasons.
-Staff writer Rodney Ho contributed to this article.
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