Viacom and DirecTV: how a royalty dispute resulted in 26 channels going off-air
On July 11th Viacom pulled all 26 of its channels from DirecTV's satellite network. The companies have since settled their differences and all the channels are now back on-air — but how did a simple royalty dispute result in millions of subscribers losing access to popular channels like MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon?
Viacom will receive over $600 million annually as part of new DirecTV deal, says Bloomberg
Earlier today Viacom and DirecTV announced a new long-term agreement that would bring all 26 Viacom channels back to the satellite network, but at the time terms of the agreement weren't made clear. Now Bloomberg is reporting that Viacom will receive more than $600 million annually as part of the arrangement, which is said to be a seven-year-long deal. Citing "a person with direct knowledge of the matter," Bloomberg says that the $600 million number is an increase of at least 20 percent from...
HD & Home
MTV, Comedy Central and 24 other channels return as DirecTV and Viacom settle dispute
Viacom and DirecTV have reached a long-term agreement to bring all 26 Viacom Networks channels back to the satellite network. DirecTV Subscribers have been without Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, and others for over a week after the two companies disagreed on contract renewal terms. DirecTV claimed that Viacom was attempting to increase its carriage fees by 30 percent, and refused to pay the higher price.
The exact terms of the agreement aren't clear at present. In a press release, Viacom...
HD & Home
DirecTV CEO: Viacom should give 'the choice to pay for only those channels you watch'
The scuffle between DirecTV and Viacom to negotiate a new contract continued today with a new ad featuring the satellite provider's CEO Mike White addressing customers and (naturally) placing the blame on the media conglomerate for "the regrettable tactic" of deciding to "take their channels away from our customers." None of that is new — not to this dispute and not to these ever more frequent contract renegotiation battles — but White continues in the ad to say that "At the very least,...
HD & Home
Viacom pulls 'Daily Show,' 'Colbert Report,' and other shows offline in wake of DirecTV dispute
Viacom pulled 26 of its channels from DirecTV today as a result of failed contract renegotiations between the two companies. As noted by the Washington Post, Viacom has now turned off one of the few fallbacks for DirecTV customers, putting a halt on the streaming of full-length episodes from several of its websites. MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and several others have removed episodes from their sites — trying to watch an episode of The Daily Show returns the above notice that they are...
HD & Home
DirecTV loses 26 Viacom channels after contract dispute
DirecTV and Viacom played chicken, and the customer lost: Viacom just pulled the plug on as many as 26 DirecTV channels, including MTV, Comedy Central, Spike, VH1, and Nickelodeon. As usual, the loss of service is the direct result of a contract renewal dispute. DirecTV claimed that Viacom was seeking an additional 30 percent increase in royalties from DirecTV to renew its subscriptions, estimated at an additional $1 billion outlay in total, and apparently DirecTV wasn't willing to pay up nor...
HD & Home
DirecTV to lose MTV, Comedy Central, and 24 other Viacom channels tomorrow due to contract disputes
Viacom is apparently using a strong tactic in its contract negotiations with DirecTV — the TV provider now says that it will lose access to a total of 26 Viacom channels (including MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, and more) as of July 10th if a deal isn't reached. For its part, DirecTV says that it has urged Viacom to keep the channels available to customers while they work out negotiations, but the provider claims that Viacom sent a letter yesterday stating its intention to remove these...
