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Wednesday, July 11, 2012

DirecTV Customers Lose Viacom Channels as Fee Talks Fail

Viacom Inc. (VIAB) (VIAB )’s 26 channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, went dark for almost 20 million DirecTV subscribers just before midnight as the companies failed to reach a new programming fee agreement.

Viacom demanded the network be dropped and wouldn’t respond to a new offer sent on July 9, El Segundo, California-based DirecTV, the largest U.S. satellite TV service, said in an e- mailed statement.

“We have been very willing to get a deal done, but Viacom is pushing DirecTV customers to pay more than a 30 percent increase,” Derek Chang, DirecTV’s executive vice president of content, strategy and development, said in the statement sent late yesterday New York time. “Viacom sent us a letter last night that outlined our obligations to remove the channels by midnight or face legal action.”

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

in actuallity its 18 channels

viacom is counting some of the channels twice. sd and hd feeds

Anonymous said...

I can't say I will miss any of the Viacom channels. A 30% increase is a large increase. After they raise the rate for Direct TV they will move onto the next cable company or dish network. I also think the company should be able to pick which Viacom channels they want. None of this you have to get all the channels or none of them.

Anonymous said...

i beleive you should pick what channles you want, and nat be forced to pay for every channel

Anonymous said...

This was posted about 45 minutes ago on the Direct TV facebook page.

DirecTV We want everyone to know that as a thank you for bearing with us we have launched all 8 Encore channels for free! Tune to Channels 535-542!

Anonymous said...

DirecTV We want everyone to know that as a thank you for bearing with us we have launched all 8 Encore channels for free! Tune to Channels 535-542!

I would rather them lower my bill. I have no premium channels and the basic bill is still almost $80 per month. What a rip but still better than comcast or dish network. Don't think I will have any of them much longer now that the kids are grown

Anonymous said...

I have found Dish Network is better than Direct. I'll never go cable...too many problems.

Anonymous said...

Dish sucks too.Didn't you guys just lose AMC,IFC and some other channels?

Anonymous said...

1:26pm
after having both, i have found that each service is better for diff people. i had no issues with dish, customer service was fine
but directv matches my viewing habits better

and for me was less expensive for more rooms

Anonymous said...

Satellite TV sucks we should be able to purchase only the channels we want this would guarantee the end of the liberal media.