Buffet discloses investment in Dish, among other stakes in cable biz

You probably don't have to be an oracle to realize that the cable business is a profitable one, for now. Warren Buffett is investing heavily in the industry and Berkshire Hathaway has disclosed a stake in satellite TV provider Dish Network to the tune of $23.3 million, among other investments in pay-TV.Berkshire's stake in the'pany is about 547,000 shares of Dish and was disclosed in a quarterly report filed for the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday. Currently, Dish's stock is worth $20.35 billion.

Media stocks have been a hot buy among Wall Street-types as of late. While Dish may represent Buffett's biggest investment in pay-TV, it's not his only interest in the area. The high-profile investor has stakes in Vi', Starz, Liberty Media and Dish'petitor, DirecTV.As of the end of June, Berkshire had $518 million invested in Vi', up from $468 million in March, and also owns 7.5 million of Vi''s Class B shares. Its stake in Starz remained stable at $124.3 million, up from $2.11 billion in March. It also increased its investment in Liberty to $712.7 million, up from $628 million.

Meanwhile, Dish may need as many friends on Wall Street as it can get as it could be gearing up for a fight against Disney. The pay-TV provider's eight-year deal with the Mouse House, which also owns ESPN, expires on September 30. ESPN is one of the priciest channels to provide, due to the high cost of sports programming. If Disney wants to increase its licensing fees, Dish may have a fight on its hands that it likely hopes won't go as far as the recent CBS and Time Warner Cable issue that has yanked CBS off the air.

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