AMC Cuts New Deal With AT&T, but Loses Carriage on Dish

The network that's home to "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" reups with AT&T even as Dish drops AMC, WE tv and IFC

AMC Networks — which airs "Mad Men," "Walking Dead" and "Breaking Bad" — has reached a new carriage agreement with AT&T, the network announced Sunday.

The companies' previous agreement ran out Saturday.

Also read: Dish Announces Replacements for AMC Networks, Beginning This Weekend

"We have reached a long-term agreement with AT&T that appropriately recognizes the value of our networks and our award-winning and high-quality programming," AMC said in a statement. "We respect AT&T as a partner that has a genuine interest in working with us to ensure their customers continue to enjoy our programming, which includes the upcoming July 15 premiere of AMC’s ‘Breaking Bad.'"

AMC couldn't resist a dig at satellite carrier Dish, with whom it remains embroiled in a long-running stand-off.

"It's telling that AMC Networks has historically been able to negotiate fair agreements with television providers that reflect the value of our content. Yet Dish, which dropped our networks as of July 1, never engaged with us in any rate discussions. Dish customers have lost some of their favorite shows because of an unrelated lawsuit which has nothing at all to do with our programming, our ratings or our rates."

Dish Network at 11:59 p.m. Saturday pulled AMC and its sister stations. Dish replaced AMC with HDNet Movies, while WE tv and IFC were replaced by Style and HDNet.

Dish said on Friday that it believes the replacements will make for "stronger movie and entertainment content."

Earlier this year, Dish announced that it would stop carrying AMC's networks when AMC's contract ran out at the end of June. Dish claims that it's dropping the networks because the viewership doesn't justify the cost of running the networks.

AMC has countered that Dish is dropping the AMC networks in retaliation for a breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against Dish by Voom HD, an indirect subsidiary of AMC Networks.

AMC attempted to rally Dish subscribers into demanding that AMC be kept on the service, including an ad campaign that featured "Mad Men" character Don Draper. The ad, which ran in the New York Times, implored the service's customers to "[t]ell Dish that you're really mad!"

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