Roger Yu

USA TODAY

Dish Network said Tuesday that the cable networks owned by Turner Broadcasting have been removed from its satellite TV lineup after the companies were unable to land a new distribution agreement.

Both sides blamed the other for the removal of seven channels -- Boomerang, Cartoon Network, CNN, CNN en Español, HLN, truTV and Turner Classic Movies -- after their contract formally expired at 2 a.m. Tuesday morning.

It's the latest in a series of contract disputes that have resulted in blackouts for consumers as the pay-TV business model that has worked for decades gets upended by emerging technologies.

"Despite our best efforts, we were unable to reach an agreement with Dish Network, and they have unilaterally decided to pull (the channels)," said Turner, a subsidiary of Time Warner.

Dish, which has about 14 million subscribers, said Turner "removed" the channels and "refused to extend the overall agreement."

"We are confident that we have offered a deal to Turner that reflects an appropriate value for our customers," said Warren Schlichting, Dish's senior vice president of programming, in a statement. "We regret the service disruption to our customers, and remain committed to reaching an agreement."

Turner added that it "has worked diligently for months to come to a fair agreement" and offered multiple extensions. Turner remains "hopeful our counterparts will return to the negotiating table," it said.

Dish's contacts with two other Time Warner-owned networks -- TNT and TBS -- also are set to expire later this year, reflecting the complexities involved in hammering out deals for multiple networks owned by a single media conglomerate.

Every few years, cable networks renew their distribution contracts with pay-TV providers. With programming costs on the rise, distribution rates -- fees paid to networks by cable and satellite companies -- have also increased in recent years and negotiations have become more contentious.

Media conglomerates typically demand that their channels are bundled in new contracts, insisting that a deal to carry a popular channel includes less popular sister networks.

Complicating the issue is cable networks and pay-TV companies' surging interest in streaming shows over the Internet. And streaming right terms have come to the forefront of their negotiations.

A year ago, CBS shows were taken of the air for about a month for Time Warner Cable customers as the companies hammered out a new deal that included restructuring streaming rights. (Time Warner Cable was spun off from Time Warner, and the two companies are separately run.)

Time Warner, which rejected Rupert Murdoch's bid to merge with his 21st Century Fox in July, has told investors that it's better off being alone in its plans to double its earnings in the next several years. Revenue from streaming would be part of the growth plans. And HBO, another Time Warner subsidiary, shocked investors earlier this month by revealing plans to offer a stream-only service in 2015 that's not tied to cable subscriptions.