Hello, DirecTV, this is Viacom. Yeah….we just wanted you to know that…ummmmm….see what had happened was…we were nice to extend our notice until now, but here’s what we gonna do. At Midnight, we pulling the plug on 26 of your channels….
– My Random Thoughts
Viacom’s Blog for the Full Scoop
Viacom’s distribution agreement with DirecTV is set to expire at midnight on Tuesday, July 10. We’ve been negotiating for months and even offered DirecTV an extension past the agreement’s original June 30th expiration date. As recently as today, we made significant economic movement in direct conversations with DirecTV.
This means that, as of tomorrow night, nearly 20 million DirecTV subscribers will be without entertainment from the programmer they watch most. A total of 26 Viacom channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, VH1, CMT, Spike TV, TV Land and more won’t be available.
I’m gonna call the biggest guy I know to get on this…but in the meantime, we got this guy….just kidding @HulkHogan
As the news trickles down about this, I will keep you posted on this page.
Update (2:58pm) 7/10
DirecTV CEO leaves a nice update to consumers.
Update 7/11
To appease viewers, DirecTV is making eight Encore movie channels (usually available in only the higher-price subscription tiers) viewable for free on channels 535-542 until July 31.
This is the latest dispute to affect pay-TV subscribers. Still unsettled is a dispute that resulted in Dish Network’s 14 million users losing AMC, IFC, Sundance and WE TV channels last month. Two years ago, DirecTV and Versus settled a seven-month stand-off just before the Comcast-owned sports channel was to begin broadcasting National Hockey League Stanley Cup playoffs. Versus was renamed the NBC Sports Network earlier this year.
Update 7/18
NEW YORK — In its ongoing game of chicken with DirecTV, Viacom just swerved. The company on Tuesday restored the online streams of full episodes of two of its most popular shows, Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” and “The Daily Show.”
Viacom made the move right after the shows returned from a two-week vacation hiatus. The maneuver gives all online viewers, including DirecTV customers, a free way to watch the shows’ latest episodes.
“We brought ‘The Daily Show’ and Colbert back online to coincide with their return with new episodes,” a Viacom spokesman said.Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/entertainment/directv-viacom-dispute-viacom-restores-daily-show-colbert-report-free-online-streaming#ixzz20ynzlPAW
Final Update (7/20)
After 10 days, Viacom has ended the dispute with DirecTV. At 6am this morning, the channels returned to the lineup
DirecTV says in its news release that Viacom “has returned all affected networks;” Viacom said at 6 am ET that the channels “will return to DIRECTV’s channel lineup immediately.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/story/2012-07-20/Viacom-DirecTV-dispute/56354864/1