MORRISBURG – If you are an Eastlink TV cable customer and like watching Food Network, W Network or HGTV, you will have to look for another way to watch those channels.
A contract dispute between Nova Scotia-based Eastlink and Corus Entertainment over renewing a carriage agreement means that by June 27, 34 cable channels will disappear from the provider.
Eastlink customers received notices last week regarding hte loss of channels from their cable TV packages.
Channels affected by the contract dispute include Food Network, History, Slice, National Geographic, CMT, OWN, Disney Channel, Disney XD, Disney Junior, YTV, Cartoon Network, Treehouse, Magnolia Network, and Lifetime, among others. Global TV, which is also owned by Corus Entertainment, is unaffected – however that TV network’s on-demand service will disappear. Global TV is mandated “must-carry” channel by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
In a statement to Broadcast Dialogue magazine, Eastlink spokesperson Jill Laing said the company worked very hard to reach an agreement with Corus but ultimately could not settle the dispute.
Corus Entertainment told BD that the company is open to future negotiations and said its services are available through its StackTV streaming service, and other distributors like Bell, Shaw, and Telus.
Eastlink has over 250,000 users across seven provinces. The company provides local cable service in Morrisburg and Iroquois along County Road 2 and Lakeshore Drive. It also operates in Winchester and Chesterville.
Affected customers can contact Eastlink’s customer service department to adjust their cable packages.