DirecTV's Viacom channels could go dark tonight

AP

(CBS News) DirecTV subscribers may be out of luck tonight if they want to watch MTV or Comedy Central.

Viacom says 26 of its channels could go dark at midnight for 20 million DirecTV subscribers if the companies can't work out an agreement to replace their current deal.

DirecTV and Viacom have been at odds for months over a carriage fee dispute. Viacom's distribution agreement with DirecTV is set to expire at midnight.

Viacom explained in a blog post that despite its "best efforts, DirecTV has rejected all of our proposals to renew our agreement. This evening, DirecTV provided Viacom with a counter proposal that included a lower rate than Viacom receives from any other distributor in the industry. With this offer, our negotiations have reached an impasse."

DirecTV, meanwhile, said on its website that it has "absolutely no intention of removing your favorite Viacom networks ... but unfortunately Viacom executives sent a letter to us late last night, forcing us to take these channels down by midnight tonight if we don't come to an agreement."

"Viacom wants you to pay over 30 percent more to keep the channels you are already receiving," costing customers $1 billion, DirecTV notes.

But Viacom says its agreement with DirecTV is "seven years old - ancient by the standards of the ever-evolving media industry - which means that DirecTV has enjoyed way below market rates for Viacom's networks for a very long time."

Viacom includes Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, VH1, CMT, Spike TV, TV Land and other channels.

[xquizit_djx]

So, I was doing a little research. The disputed amount is $1 Billion a year increase in fees.
Let's do a little math:
1 Billion divided by 30 million customers = $33 per customer per year, $2.75 per month
That equals about 11 cents a channel.
Doesn't matter how you put it, it's still $1 Billion dollars out of customers pockets,

Ok, so why does DirecTV pay for Disney Channel than Nick, even though it has less viewers. Simple, Disney own ESPN, which has more viewers than 23 Viacom channels combined. Simple as that.

[retmw2]

With all the commercials on the viacom channels(one about every five minutes) they should be lowering prices.

[upsetcustomer2]

This is nuts the rich get richer and the poor stay poor, we already pay way more than we should just to watch the same shows and movies absolutely ridiculous! There should be not be an INTERRUPTION OF SERVICE at all.

[RobertKluver]

Went to check out what my kids were watching today, I hear spongebob BUT there are two scrolling messages across the screen. 1 of them from Viacom and one from DirectTV.

It probably is bad business for these two companies to have this fight on the air in front of my kids who have no clue why they can't see the show without these scrolling banners in the way.

I did a bit of research and I find out the following that you should all understand right now:

DIRECTV Will NOT DROP any of these channels.
IF they are lost it will be VIACOM who has dropped them by turning off or blanking the feeds it provides DirecTV for distribution.

I would expect after seeing today's tactics by both companies, some sort of combative messages will likely appear on these channels.

Here is the list of Viacom owned channels:
The most popular music channels of course...
MTV Networks (All MTV channels)
CMT
VH1
Palladia

The most popular kids programming:
All Nickelodeon channels

and these popular channels...
BET
Comedy Central
Spike

Will they stay or will they go? We shall all know more tomorrow most likely. I think its way too early for anyone decide to drop DirecTV. I am unhappy as many of you are that they put their customers in the middle of this battle in such a public way. However, I would have been quite pissed if we lost these channels without any notice whatsoever.

We will not know the outcome probably for several days if DirecTV and Viacom will reach an agreement and what impact that may have on our service and our bill.

If the Viacom channels are lost to DirecTV, it will definitely hurt their business, and on the other side Viacom as well will miss out completely on all earnings it receives from DirecTV subscribers. This is a double edged sword no matter how you slice it.

Personally, I doubt either company will permanently allow an impass to continue, but I could be wrong. DirecTV would suffer unimaginable losses if they lose these channels, and I would expect existing subscribers to demand a reduction in their package rates to compensate for the loss of channels. Viacom will lose every cent they make from DirecTV subscribers as well. I do not think either company wants to experience such losses.

Viacom should understand that DirectTV has a lot of subscribers and is growing every day. That means that Viacom will earn more as DirecTV increases its number of subscribers. If they must raise prices, 30% is much too large a figure, especially in today's economy. A 5% increase would substantially boost their earnings. I propose that both DirecTV and Viacom agree to a 5% increase now for a period of 1-2 years minimum, remove these messages from the channels and let us continue to enjoy and take the battle out of the public arena today, and give both companies more time to work out a longer term equitable agreement.

Should they fail to do so, both companies stand to lose an enormous amount of revenue. Stop being so combative. Viacom you ARE making money now with DirecTV, why kill that? DirecTV understand that you have to periodically renegotiate contracts, and that you will have to make adjustments every now and then. The public battle is hurting both of your reputations, and if these channels go offline tomorrow - you will both feel the pain, I can guarantee you that.

DirecTV subscribers, we pay a good amount of money for our packages and we should expect to always keep the programming we pay for. If we lose channels we enjoy over the next week or two, it is our right as consumers to #1 expect compensation in terms of a refund or reduced package rate due to these possible channel losses and #2 we have the right to suspend or cancel our service and move to an alternate provider.

For everyone involved: Good luck. I am personally confident that some sort of an agreement will be reached. If I am wrong, it will not be the first time, but each of us will be negatively impacted, subscribers, Viacom and DirecTV alike. So please, squash this public battle today, act now to extend negotiations at a minimum for at least 12-24 months.

[upsetcustomer2]

I hope they hear you Robert K.

[ThisIsAmazinglyStupid]

RobertK you should really send this to the DirecTV company, it might be able to knock some sense into the Viacom also. This took me a while to read but it's true I woke up this morning and I found a banner scrolling across the screen i'm like, "What the hell is this?". I mean like I love MTV and MTV2 and I also watch Nick and eveything Spike, Comedy Central and I would really hate to see them go there's not a lot of good channels and I won't be able to watch Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory and I think your very very long comment I the best I have seen and DirecTV will probably lose a lot of their customers all because of Viacom if they don't make up their minds fast.

[mic1969]

Yea Viacom is getting greedy, but out of the above channels we onlu watch four. We do watch Nickelodeon except for Degrassi we do not watch any shows that depict Gays, or boys on boys or girls on girls. That's just wrong and shame on all the networks that put that crap on. So if they cut out the channels then we can stop buying any Viacom products, and we certainly will be getting our direct tv bill lowered, So go ahead this is a customer driven product and if they cut out access then they will lose more in the long run.

[bergs1ka]

Just had to get that gay bashing in there didn't you. Why did you even need to mention it? Welcome to 2012, we have a black president and people are openly gay. Why don't you read your Bible a little closer pretty sure Jesus wanted you to love everyone and only allow our heavenly father to judge.

[pmpbates]

I would like to know what Viacom would do if the millions of people who watch their channels decided to QUIT watching, they would lose money. The people don't want to pay extra for channels that they are already paying for. Please let Viacom know that we are unhappy about their decisions!