A Walt Disney Co. unit sued Dish Network Corp., the second-largest U.S. satellite-TV provider, for copyright violations in connection with the distribution of movies on the Starz service.

Dish gave subscribers free access to the Starz premium television service, including copyrighted movies that were provided by Disney on the condition that Starz operate as a premium channel such as HBO, Cinemax and Showtime, according to the lawsuit. Starz, a unit of John Malone's Liberty Media Corp., wasn't named in the suit filed May 2 in federal court in New York.