Four days before the start of the Blazers’ preseason, DISH TV removed all AT&T Sports Networks from their lineups Thursday, including ROOT Sports. In a statement, DISH felt that the benefit to their subscribers was outweighed by the high price being demanded by AT&T. This is the latest in a series of battles between broadcast providers and Regional Sports Networks (RSN’s), a situation familiar to Blazers fans due to Comcast/NBC Sports Northwest being unavailable on satellite networks.
The crux of the negotiations breakdown seems to be the requirement for the sports networks to be available to, and paid for by, all subscribers.