Because pay-TV providers and content networks can’t negotiate anything without resorting to blackouts to try to prove who has the bigger dishes, the contract stalemate between Turner Broadcasting and Dish Network has left millions of satellite customers without a large slate of popular channels, including CNN, HLN, truTV and — most importantly — Cartoon Network.

Neither TBS or TNT were affected by the blackout, so Dish subscribers can continue not watching these cable channels.

Dish is positioning itself as the representative for consumers, even going so far as to launch a website (dishstandsforyou.com) arguing its side of the story.

Warren Schlichting, the satellite company’s senior vice president of Programming, says that Dish has had a “productive relationship with Turner Networks for many years… We regret the service disruption to our customers, and remain committed to reaching an agreement that promptly returns this content to DISH’s programming lineup.”

Meanwhile, Turner is pointing a finger back at Dish with its own ridiculously titled website (savemyshows.com), claiming that it’s working on the side of the righteous.

“Turner has worked diligently for months to come to a fair agreement including multiple extensions and compromises,” the company said in a statement. “It’s unfortunate that Dish is once again operating in a disruptive manner that takes away networks and programming from their customers.”

Both sides seem to agree that a deal will ultimately be reached, meaning that Dish subscribers will ultimately pay more for service, which makes us wonder: Why go through the hassle and bad publicity of a blackout if you’re just going to hike rates in the end anyway?

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