“Dish Network Corp. has dropped the NFL Network, the National Football League-owned channel that has exclusive rights to eight Thursday night football games,” writes our good friend Joe Flint in the Wall St. Journal.

Joe’s story continues, “The channel went dark in seven million Dish homes Thursday night after the two sides were unable to come to terms on a new distribution contract for the service, which is one of the most expensive to carry. According to media industry consulting firm SNL Kagan, the NFL Network has a monthly fee of $1.31 per subscriber.”

Adds Flint, “The NFL said Dish is the first distributor to drop the channel in its 13-year history. If the dispute isn’t resolved in the fall, Dish will also no longer carry the NFL’s RedZone service, which is a specialty channel that carries live action of all games every Sunday throughout the regular season.”

Reports NBC Sports, “With Dish Network pulling the plug, the league-owned broadcast operation is [still] available in 60 million homes.”