Angry viewers help push EchoStar, Viacom to resolve dispute, restore channels to DISH

<br>DENVER (AP) _ After a two-day blackout that brought the wrath of satellite television viewers by the thousands, EchoStar Communications Corp. and Viacom Inc. reached a deal that restored several popular

Thursday, March 11th 2004, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

DENVER (AP) _ After a two-day blackout that brought the wrath of satellite television viewers by the thousands, EchoStar Communications Corp. and Viacom Inc. reached a deal that restored several popular channels such as MTV and Nickelodeon to the DISH Network.

The two sides reached a deal early Thursday. Within 20 minutes, Viacom's channels, including VH1, Comedy Central and BET, were back on DISH, EchoStar spokesman Marc Lumpkin said.

EchoStar had dropped Viacom channels early Tuesday in a dispute over fees. Up to 9 million DISH satellite television viewers were affected.

The dispute also left as many as 2 million DISH viewers without CBS shows when EchoStar pulled the network's programing in cities including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, Denver, Minneapolis and Dallas.

DISH subscribers in those cities were threatened with the loss of the upcoming NCAA men's basketball tournament, which begins March 18 on CBS. Viacom is CBS' parent corporation.

Viacom and EchoStar began sparring after a contract for the DISH Network to broadcast Viacom channels expired Dec. 31. The contract was extended at least three times, with the latest court order expiring late Monday.

MTV spokeswoman Jeanine Smartt said customer displeasure as a factor in the renewed negotiations that led to a deal.

"Really, it was the outcry from the viewers that truly, I think, brought EchoStar back to the negotiating table," Smartt said. "They called us by the thousands and thousands."

Financial terms of the new contract were not disclosed.

The deal will add the Nicktoons channel to some DISH packages this spring. It also extends the length of DISH's contract to carry the CBS HD East and West, Spike TV and CMT channels.

"We understand that this has been a difficult few days for our customers, and we thank them for all the encouragement they have given us throughout," EchoStar chairman and CEO Charles Ergen said in a joint statement with Viacom. "We also look forward to a long relationship with Viacom in which we can provide their quality channels to our viewers."

In the statement, Viacom president Mel Karmazin apologized for the service disruption and thanked viewers "for their patience and support."

EchoStar said Viacom illegally tried to force it to carry channels at unfair prices in exchange for the right to also carry 18 CBS-owned stations in 16 markets.

It said New York-based Viacom sought rate increases up to 40 percent over the length of the contract, which would total potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.

Viacom officials said EchoStar was fighting over what amounted to 6 cents more per customer per month.

DISH customers will receive a credit of $1 if they lost CBS programming and an additional $1 if they lost any Viacom channels during the blackout period.

Besides CBS, media conglomerate Viacom also owns MTV and the Paramount movie studio.

The blackout was the largest disruption since 2000, when a similar dispute between Time Warner cable and ABC interrupted service to 3.5 million cable customers.