The ongoing signal carriage negations between Echostar and Sinclair Broadcast were about to come to an end on May 31, when the Dish Network would stop carrying Sinclair's stations. However, with the deadline looming, negotiations were extended for two more months as contract discussions continue.

There is no assurance that further negotiations will be successful, according to the Sinclair Web site.

For fans of Fox's "American Idol," the winner will be decided before the plug is pulled.

Meanwhile, Dish's direct competitor, DirecTV, just finished negotiations for an extension of its retransmission consent agreement with Sinclair.