Blog Archives
Viacom Channels Go Dark on DirecTV
Last night at midnight, 20 million DirecTV subscribers lost 17 different Viacom channels. The channels lost include Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, and more.
DirecTV and Viacom conflict of carriage fees continues. DirecTV says Viacom wants a 30 percent increase in fees, which comes out to an additional $1 billion. Viacom’s Vice President for Corporate Communications Mark Jafar wrote on his company’s blog that the increase amounts to “a couple pennies per day, per subscriber”, that DirecTV has been paying “the same bargain rate” for Viacom programming for 7 years, and that Viacom “accounts for 20% of all viewing on DirecTV.”
USA Today reports that DirecTV subscribers who tune into Viacom channels will now see a “mix” channel of programming from other networks, such as Bravo, FX, and TBS. DirecTV is also making eight Encore movie channels, which are usually part of premium packages, available for free to all of its customers until July 31.
For more on DirecTV’s side of the argument, check out directvpromise. More on Viacom’s view can be found on the company’s blog and whendirecttvdrops.
Weekly TV Update: June 18
Former reality show star and son of Sharon and Ozzy, Jack Osbourne is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
On Wednesday, ABC Family will air an all day marathon of Melissa and Joey. Old episodes will air from noon to 8pm with a new episode debuting immediately after.
CBS has ordered a Ryan Seacrest produced pilot based on the popular Zynga game Draw Something. The show will follow in the tradition of Win, Lose or Draw and Pictionary.
MTV has a rundown of five key moments from last night’s True Blood.
USA Today has a synopsis of the second season finale of The Killing, which reveals Rosie Larsen’s killer.