• by Wayne Friedman , June 22, 2010

It's open season again on cable operators stopping carriage of cable networks. Dish Network says it's dropping four of Disney's HD channels. However, Disney said Dish had no business airing those channels in the first place.

Dish said it is dropping Disney Channel HD, Disney XD HD, ABC Family HD and ESPNews HD because Disney is asking for a "significant" carriage fee.

Conversely, Disney said Dish never contracted with it to run those channels. In a statement, Disney said: "The recent New York State Court ruling confirms our position that Dish Network is not entitled to carry ABC Family HD, Disney Channel HD, Disney XD HD and ESPNews HD without paying compensation."

In March 2010, a New York court ruled that Dish owes Disney approximately $65 million under a cable network affiliation agreement, which Dish is currently appealing. Dish carries standard-definition versions of the channels in question, as well as other Disney HD channels, ESPN HD and ESPN2 HD.

Disney said: "We hope that Dish will work with us to reach an agreement, so that we can make these HD networks available to their customers."

Last year, Dish sued Disney over what it believed were different carriage rates it received, versus the deals that DirecTV and Comcast inked for similar Disney channels.