Dish And AMC Reach Settlement, ‘Mad Men’ And AMC Channels Returning To Dish

Dish Network and AMC have reached a settlement in their legal battle that will see award-winning shows such as Mad Men and Breaking Bad become available again to Dish viewers.

The legal feud between Dish and AMC began in July, when the former dropped AMC’s channels, arguing that the ratings posted by AMC did not justify the price of the content. AMC claimed that Dish had wrongfully terminated their contract, and filed a lawsuit in response.

Yet with the legal wrangle now resolved, subscribers to Dish will be able to pick up AMC content again with immediate effect. Dave Shull, Dish’s senior vice president of Programming, said yesterday:

“We are glad to have settled the case and reestablished our long-term relationships with AMC Networks and Cablevision. This multiyear deal delivers a fair value for both parties and includes digital expansion opportunities for AMC Networks’ programming.”

AMC’s previous owner, Cablevision, sued Dish in 2008 over a HD satellite TV service called Voom. In that lawsuit, Cablevision accused Dish of breaking a 15-year contract to offer the service to its 14 million TV subscribers. AMC sought $2.4 billion in damages.

While the $2.4 billion won’t be forthcoming, Dish is to pay $700 million to Cablevision and AMC and enter into a long-term distribution agreement with AMC to offer AMC content, IFC, Sundance Channel and WE tv.

As part of the settlement, Dish will also receive a portion of satellite video airwaves from Cablevision, multichannel video distribution and data service in 45 markets.

All of which is great news for Mad Men and Breaking Bad fans who also happen to be Dish subscribers – do you fall into that very specific category?