Wikipedia does say this...
"The single channel was available to Verizon FiOS subscribers for free for the channel's debut weekend with a monthly subscription to the channel costing $9.99 per month [11](in comparison, a subscription to multi-channel services such as HBO costs $14.99 a month, while Cinemax, Showtime and Starz each cost $12.99)."
While Dish does not have to offer it as a premium, it appears that Epix parents want to make more than $.25 per sub.
Then I found this in a USA Today article from March...
"Greenberg wants operators to include Epix in their packages of digital, movie or HD channels — it wouldn't appear as a separate charge on customers' bills the way premium services usually do. He'll sweeten the deal by making the channel's movies and shows available to their video-on-demand services.
He's asking companies to pay $1.50 a month for every subscriber who can see Epix. That's about 50 cents more than operators typically pay for ad-supported basic channels such as TNT, but far less than they provide to sports services such as ESPN, which costs about $3.65."
So we can all agree I have no idea what I am talking about.