AMC and Dish Network Get Into a Slap Fight

In a move that's colder than circa-Season 3 Betty Draper, Dish Network decided to pull AMC (home of Mad Men and Breaking Bad) from its listings. Fans were outraged, but both sides kept it civil — until Sunday night, when things got bitchy.

During last night's (brutally depressing) episode of Mad Men, AMC took action, inserting a spot that explained the situation and urged Dish subscribers to voice their complaints. They also listed a website where people could email Dish directly, and suggested there was a "real reason" Dish is dropping AMC. (An unrelated legal dispute, apparently. I was hoping for something out of Rubicon.)

In the ultimate dick move, Dish responded by relocating AMC to channel 9069 — right in the middle of a broadcast of The Killing. Now, look, I know we all have issues with the show, but we're so close to finding out who killed Rosie Larsen. Cutting an episode off while it's still airing is unforgivable. To make matters worse, Dish replaced channel 130 with HD Net, which was playing — wait for it — a Nickelback concert.


Viewers were pissed. And so was AMC, who released this statement—


The Dish response, however unhelpful, might be the most delightfully passive-aggressive yet: "A Dish spokesman said the channels were moved to a location better suited to their ratings performance."

Take that, Emmy Award-winning series not enough people watch.

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