"Congrats, Dish Customers! All ESPN and Disney will be available, and in HD where available, without any interruption!" "All packages will increase immediately ONLY $5 per month."
Sounds like an extention of the current contract so they can continue to negotiate.
Next time ask them how the negotiations with IRAN are going too.
That's a dispute with the station owner Morris Multimedia. Here's a list of the stations they own:
| Market | Station ... channel (DT) | Network | Year acquired | Notes |
| Macon, Georgia | WMGT-TV 41 (40) | NBC MyNetworkTV | 1978 | Acquired in 1978 as the company's flagship station. |
| Lexington, Kentucky | WTVQ-TV 36 (40) | ABC MyNetworkTV | 2008 | Acquired from Media General in Spring 2008. [1] |
| Biloxi - Gulfport (Mississippi) | WXXV-TV 25 (48) | Fox | 1997 | Also serves the #168 Hattiesburg - Laurel market. |
| Columbus - Tupelo - West Point (Mississippi) | WCBI-TV 4 (35) | CBS / MNTV on DT2 / The CW on DT3 | 2003 | Was the first licensed television station in Northern Mississippi. Founded and originally owned by The Commercial Dispatch newspaper. |
| Wilmington, North Carolina | WWAY 3 (46) | ABC | 2006 | Was acquired from Raycom Media since ownership rules set by the FCC prohibits that company from owning and operating the station and one other, NBC affiliate WECT. |
| Chattanooga, Tennessee | WDEF-TV 12 (47) | CBS | 2006 | Was Chattanooga's first television station. Acquired from Media General on October 13, 2006 following their acquisition of stations from NBCUniversal. |
I was just told by a CSR that they have no knowledge of contract negotiations. They just make up stuff to mess with people who call and ask about it.
But wait isn't that price just for one espn how about the other over priced channels.Should ESPN be set free to be a-la-carte, what fraction of Dish's 14 million subs would pay directly for it?
Let's assume 25% are rabid enough sports fans to buy ESPN a-la-carte, so for ESPN to maintain it's current income it would have to quadruple the price it currently charges for its programming - $5/month jumps to $20/month.
If the number is 20% then the price has to go to $25/month.
The fear is that nobody knows how many would fork over for ESPN a-la-carte and the higher the price the fewer will subscribe.
So if ESPN goes a-la carte, my Dish bill drops $5
I don't forsee a snowballs chance that ESPN would take that risk - a known income stream for a questionable one - not smart and ESPN is the one who decides how its programming is distributed.
Thats why I say it would be about $50 for all the other priced channels too. 
