Dish customers in 16 markets, including Denver, also lost their local CBS affiliate programs as well.
EchoStar said it would provide $1 monthly credits to customers who lose CBS programming, and another $1 for those who subscribe to additional Viacom channels.
EchoStar Chairman Charlie Ergen says he had no option. He claims Viacom was extorting his company for millions in extra programming fees.
Ergen is also upset Viacom won't let him drop channels that are not very popular, like the Games channel, the Sports channel and Noggin.
For its part, Viacom is urging Dish customers to switch to another provider so they can get the programs they are now missing.
"Fortunately, consumers have a choice. Current EchoStar-DISH Network subscribers who would like to continue receiving BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, and all our other channels can easily switch (to another service)," said a statement from spokeswoman Susan Duffy after the channels were turned off. "We urge them to do so."
DISH, meanwhile, had posted an announcement about the cancellation on its Web site, along with a plea for consumers who may be upset at the possibility of not seeing March Madness or their soaps to call CBS.
"DISH Network will always have a place for CBS and we're willing to pay for retransmission rights, but Viacom is holding the public airwaves hostage, trying to extract concessions and higher rates on programming unrelated to CBS," Ergen said in a statement released as the deadline for the cancellation approached.
But Viacom's statement it couldn't understand EchoStar's position.
"They recently hiked their subscribers' bills by as much as $3 a month. Yet they are unwilling to consider paying an additional six cents a month per subscriber for the right to carry our channels. Our networks are some of the most popular on television and when Americans watch TV, they spend more than 20 percent of their time with our networks; nonetheless, we are asking for less than five percent of what EchoStar-DISH Network currently generates from the average customer," the statement said.
Viacom and EchoStar began sparring after a contract for the DISH Network to broadcast Viacom channels expired Dec. 31.
The contract was extended at least three times this year, voluntarily and by court orders. The latest court order for the programming to continue expired at the overnight deadline.
In January, EchoStar filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Francisco alleging Viacom was illegally trying to force EchoStar to carry Viacom-owned MTV, Spike and other cable channels at unfair prices in exchange for the right to carry 18 CBS-owned stations in 16 media markets.
Ergen had said previously he would rather drop CBS than submit to Viacom's demands.
The fight is hurting both companies' bottom lines.
Shares of EchoStar and Viacom lost ground on Wall Street, but Ergen says it is worth it to prove his point.
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