Happening this weekend, Dish Network has signed a multi-year agreement for four Comcast SportsNet affiliates. This prevents them from being pulled from the lineup. Earlier this month, Dish’s agreement for Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, California, Chicago and Mid-Atlantic was set to expire, but the two sides signed a short-term extension to keep them on the lineup.

On Saturday, Dish and Comcast came together on a handshake to keep these channels on-board without any service interruption. However, Comcast SportsNet New England which is covered under a separate agreement remains offline.

Subscribers of Dish will not see any blackouts of the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks, Golden State Warriors, San Jose Sharks, Washington Capitals and Wizards in the local markets. Dish and Comcast had fired off salvos at each other, but as they got closer to a full extension, the war of words stopped.

Earlier this month, Dish signed an agreement with CBS to keep 14 local channels after a dispute led to a 12-hour removal and blackout.

And Dish’s agreement with Fox News Channel expired last night and the talks to keep that network on-board have not been going well with both sides blaming the other for failure to come to an agreement.

So Dish has been busy with carriage talks and looks like it will continue this M.O. for the distant future.

[Multichannel News]

About Ken Fang

Ken has been covering the sports media in earnest at his own site, Fang's Bites since May 2007 and at Awful Announcing since March 2013.

He provides a unique perspective having been an award-winning radio news reporter in Providence and having worked in local television.

Fang celebrates the four Boston Red Sox World Championships in the 21st Century, but continues to be a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan.

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