DISH drops AMC

• Tweet

LOS ANGELES, July 1 (UPI) -- America's DISH Network dropped AMC -- home of "Mad Men," "The Walking Dead," "The Killing" and "Breaking Bad" -- from its service Sunday.

An estimated 14 million households lost access to the cable television specialty channel weeks before the final season of its critically acclaimed "Breaking Bad" original series is set to air, the Los Angeles Times reported.

DISH also dropped IFC, Sundance and WE TV -- all owned by AMC parent AMC Networks Inc. -- after failing to resolve a dispute with the network, the newspaper said.

DISH said it made the move because carrying AMC has become too costly and also cited the availability of AMC programs on iTunes and Netflix.

AMC alleges the dispute stems from a legal fight over distribution that began in 2008 and has nothing to do with rates.

"DISH customers have lost some of their favorite shows because of an unrelated lawsuit which has nothing at all to do with our programming," AMC said in a statement. "In fact, DISH has not discussed rates with us at all."

"The channels that AMC networks are forcing us to deliver just don't give our customers the best content at the best value. It's important to be able to offer the right equation to our customers," a DISH representative told EW.com Friday.