Stamford, Conn.— OLN is back on Dish Network.
Six months after dropping OLN, direct-broadcast satellite provider EchoStar Communications Corp. returned the Comcast Corp.-owned channel to Dish Network’s “America’s Top 180” package on April 24 in time for its coverage of New York Rangers-New Jersey Devils National Hockey League playoff game. Deal terms were not disclosed.
OLN lost 3 million subscribers in October. At the time, EchoStar executives said they removed the network in the wake of demands to make it available on a more widely penetrated tier — as part of its new NHL deal, OLN officials were requesting that carriers offer the service to 40% of their subscriber base.
Executives in the sports-TV community familiar with the negotiations said, though, that OLN’s contract with Dish had lapsed prior to its acquisition of NHL rights last August.
