Dish Network accused AT&T of flexing its new found media muscle by pulling HBO and Cinemax content from the former’s pay-TV and Sling TV platforms.

The satellite network operator said the mobile giant leveraged its recent acquisition of Time Warner to block paying customers from rival networks accessing key content.

In a statement, Dish Network’s SVP of programming, Andy LeCuyer, warned the move “may be the first of many HBO blackouts for consumers across the country” because the operator “no longer has incentive to come to an agreement on behalf of consumer choice”.

Pulling no punches, LeCuyer added approval of the Time Warner acquisition granted AT&T “the power to grab more money or steal away customers”.

Dish Network said AT&T made untenable demands which were damaging to consumers and competing pay-TV providers. Rural customers would be particularly hard hit, it argued.

“Plain and simple, the merger created for AT&T immense power over consumers,” LeCuyer noted. He branded the operator’s move “anticompetitve” and a “deliberate slap in the face to rural Americans”, who form the bulk of Dish Network’s user base.

Hitting back
HBO disputed Dish Network’s claims: in a statement it argued the satellite TV company had made negotiations “extremely difficult, responding to our good faith attempts with unreasonable terms”.

It noted Dish Network has a history of pulling services off air during contract discussions, adding the practice has become “all too common a negotiating tactic for them”.

AT&T closed the acquisition of Time Warner in June following a prolonged battle with the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which argued the deal would harm competition. However, the DoJ appealed approval of the deal, with the pair ultimately set to face off in court in a trial due to commence in early December.

Dish Network executive Warren Schlichting, who heads its Sling TV business, testified for the government in opposition of the deal during the original court hearing.