DirecTV customers lost 17 Viacom channels last night.
The satellite carrier and Viacom, whose channels include Nickelodeon, Spike, MTV and Comedy Central, have been negotiating over carriage fees and unable to reach an agreement.
Both companies are blaming each other.
Viacom "sent us a letter last night that outlined our obligations to remove the channels by midnight or face legal action just as they were falsely telling viewers DirecTV was responsible," said Derek Chang, the satellite company’s executive vice president for content, strategy and development, according to deadline.com Wednesday. "Let's be clear, Viacom took these channels away from DirecTV viewers."
Viacom's take on the situation is that "DirecTV dropped the channels without giving Viacom advanced warning," according to blog.viacom.
"We are deeply disappointed that DirecTV dropped Viacom's channels before our midnight deadline this evening, severing our connection with its nearly 20 million subscribers nationwide," according to an official statement posted on the website.
"We proposed a fair deal that amounted to an increase of only a couple pennies per day, per subscriber, and we remained willing to negotiate that deal right up to this evening’s deadline. However, DirecTV refused to engage in meaningful conversation. We are hopeful that DirecTV will work with us toward a resolution, and stop denying its subscribers access to the networks they watch most."
At issue is money.
DirecTV has said Viacom wants 30 percent more for its channels — equal to about $1 billion. But it's not worth the price increase, said Chang due to "the fact that the ratings for many of their main networks have plummeted and much of Viacom's programming can be seen for free online."
Caught in the middle are millions of subscribers who tuned into some of their favorite channels last night and found instead a video of DirecTV Chief Operating Officer Mike White telling subscribers why Viacom channels have been dropped.
The channels dropped were: Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, VH1, CMT, Logo, Spike, TV Land, MTV2, VH1 Classic, Palladia, Nick Jr., NickToons, TeenNick, Nickelodeon West, Tr3s, Centric, MTV India, Nickelodeon HD, Comedy Central HD, MTV HD, BET HD, VH1 HD, CMT HD and Spike HD.
No word on if or when the issue will be resolved.
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