Dish, AT&T Agree To One-Month Extension On Reseller Deal

Dish Network and AT&T have agreed to extend their deal, under which AT&T markets the satellite operator’s services in certain regions, until Jan. 31, 2009.

Dish disclosed the contract extension in a filing Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In July, the direct-broadcast satellite operator said the five-year-old agreement with AT&T would expire Dec. 31, 2008.  Previously, the telco said it would offer Dish in all territories to customers where its U-verse TV service is not available, including the nine states where BellSouth had resold DirecTV.

AT&T has said it is still evaluating options for whether it would offer Dish or DirecTV service in 2009 and beyond.

AT&T reported 2.235 million satellite video subscribers for the quarter ended June 30, meaning it added a net of just 3,000 DBS customers for the period after reporting 2.232 million DBS subs at the close of the first quarter.

Meanwhile, AT&T had tallied 549,000 customers for its own U-verse TV service, and reiterated that it expects to top 1 million subscribers by year’s end.