North Carolina AG Seeks Dish Info on Univision Impasse

North Carolina Attorney General Joshua Stein has asked Dish for info on its carriage dispute with Univision and its impact on North Carolina residents.

Dish has not been carrying Univision, UniMas and Galavision since the end of June.

Related: Univision Says Dish Is Dug In

The letter, to Dish EVP and general counsel Timothy Messner, was in response to a complaint the AG received from the Latinos in Information Sciences and Technology Association, which asked the AG to look into Dish's marketing and consumer practices, particularly as regards the Latino community.

Stein's letter simply asked for info and to make Dish aware it was tracking the contract dispute.

For one he wants to know if any North Carolina subs who tried to cancel Dish were subject to early termination fees and whether Dish has promoted the Univision channels as one prospective customers could get if they signed up.

He also wants to know if Dish has received any other complaints and how it responded to them.

“DISH is working to deliver a response to this inquiry. The disagreement with Univision is a business dispute, plain and simple," the company said in response. "We refuse to allow our customers to pay outrageous fee increases, especially for content that is available for free over the air, as well as available online for substantially less than Univision is trying to charge DISH customers.

"To support our DishLATINO customers during this time, DISH is offering a $5 per month credit, as well as over-the-air antennas in select markets. We remain committed to serving the Hispanic community in the U.S. with great content at a great value.”

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.