The plan seems to be part of a broader strategy to slim down the bundle of cable channels offered to TV subscribers to control price increases. Dish axed the Boston-area regional sports network in August.

Comcast Corp. owns NBCUniversal and Comcast-branded regional sports networks.

Regional sports networks can be the second-most-expensive networks in a cable bundle — exceeded only by ESPN — because of the billions of dollars the networks have committed in recent years to acquiring TV rights for professional sports.

Networks say the sports rights are worth the cost because of fans’ passion and the excitement of live TV viewing.

But Dish Network’s hardball negotiating tactics are an indication of continuing stress for the cable-sports TV business.

Because of costs, Time Warner Cable Inc. has not reached broad distribution deals for SportNet LA, its regional sports network that televises the Los Angeles Dodgers.

A Houston regional sports network was recently reorganized in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

NBCUniversal, which is owned by Comcast Corp., is warning subscribers of a Dec. 1 deadline by which Dish must reach a new contract to keep televising the regional sports networks.

“We are growing increasingly concerned that Dish is not willing to work toward mutually accepted terms for continuing carriage” of Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic, Comcast SportsNet Chicago, Comcast SportsNet Bay Area, and Comcast SportsNet California,” NBCUniversal said in a statement.

Dish, which has 14.1 million TV subscribers nationwide, has never carried Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. The Philadelphia network, also part of NBCUniversal, televises the Phillies, the Sixers and the Flyers.

NBCUniversal believes that disclosing the status of the Dish negotiations could lead to blowback by sports fans in those cities, forcing Dish Network to soften its stance.

NBC Sports Group spokesman Tim Buckman did not comment Monday beyond the statement.

Dish says NBCUniversal is seeking a 40 percent price increase for the regional sports networks “when only a small fraction of those consumers actually watch the channels. This heavy-handed tactic is troubling given Comcast’s proposed merger with Time Warner Cable that would allow it to exercise even more power to leverage programming content in anti-competitive ways.”

Comcast has proposed acquiring Time Warner Cable for $45 billion. The Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission are reviewing the complex deal for anti-competitive concerns and public-interest benefits.

NBCUniversal’s hikes of the fees to distribute the regional sports channels were closer to 10 percent, according to a source close to the negotiations.