Viacom channels go dark for DirecTV customers

A DirecTV satellite receiver dish is displayed on a home in Simi Valley, Calif.

/ AP

(CBS News) Viacom channels went dark at midnight Tuesday for DirecTV subscribers after the two companies failed to agree on new programming fees.

DirecTV and Viacom are at odds over carriage fees for such cable channels as Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, VH1 and Spike.

Read more: DirecTV's Viacom channels could go dark

Their seven-year contract expired last weekend, and both sides have failed to find a desirable middle ground. The companies continue to update customers about the dispute via online statements and blog posts. DirecTV has 20 million subscribers affected by the dispute.

On Tuesday, DirecTV released a statement on its website, explaining: "Viacom has spent the day trying to convince the public that DIRECTV is willingly removing channels like MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, TV Land and Spike from our customers' homes tonight at midnight."

In a blog post late Tuesday, Viacom stated: "DirecTV is throwing around some big numbers that are misleading. Here's the truth: Viacom is asking DirecTV for an increase of a couple of pennies per day per subscriber. That's far less than DirecTV pays other programmers with fewer viewers than Viacom. Viacom has always been open to negotiating and hopes to get a deal done."

The battle shines a light on the tensions between content companies and cable distributors over fees and programming as competition from other content media, such as online video and Netflix, grows.

[Old Timer 8080]

DirecTV had a scam going with Best Buy. You THOUGHT you were BUYING an HDTV receiver for $ 500 when you were actually LEASING it from DirecTV!

( the receiver had OTA and CABLE TV inputs! )

DirecTV wanted these boxes back when I made a query about an account with them. Since they were not going to pay me for fixing them, I said NO DEAL. The boxes were still good for OTA HDTV and cable...

Karma is a beotch sometimes....

[michaeloptv]

If it's only 2 cents a day...then there is nothing to worry about and Direct TV should just pay up (60-70 cents a month...comeon people!)

NOW...if it's 10 to 20 cents a day...now we are talking!!
($3 to $6 extra a month...some people could spend elsewhere)

Direct TV is cheap. If you don't want "Cheap" then move back to cable. Otherwise, deal with what you have and stop crying and whining over it.

PS: I HATE VIACOMM just as much and should be not thanking me for that. You guys are scums. First taking away free stuff for public domain on YouTube and now pulling this ****. You guys are the definition of Greed. Yea I can see the smirks on your faces...jurks!

So in conclusion...Viacomm stop being so frekin greedy!! and Direct TV stop being so frekin cheap...then everyone will be happy! ;)

[BWB2020]

Looks as if the customers get to cancel their DirectTV contracts without penalty, as DirecTV cannot deliver as promised.

If DirecTV credits customers for cancelling, there will be class-action, and DTV will lose big..

It is ironic, I'm old enough to remember the advent of cable TV, the hype that was pitched to the public was, because you pay a subscription fee, the TV was supposed to be commercial-free.

Now they are as bad as, if not worse than the free on-air channels they were supposed to replace.

And even the free over-the-air channels must have a decoder box for the digital signal in the US. If you don't pay for cable, do you still receive CBS, ABC, and NBC, as well as your local stations?

If not, call your lawyer, and make them bleed.

The cable companies bandwidth should actually be re-nationalized, because they don't make enough money to pay reparations for their decades of false advertising.

[mr540602]

Directv is talking like a politician, out of both sides of their mouth, on one hand they are slamming Viacom for wanting us to pay for Viacom channels we don't want while Directv makes us pay for a bundled package of channels I don't watch or want to pay for. And don't trust the comment section on Directv's website, I tried to post the above comment and it was censored out. The only thing allowed to post are hooray for Directv and booo for Viacom.

[simpleguy234]

I couldn't agree more! Directv is a sham. They offer all these low rates, then jack the consumer with the fine print. My $39.99 package? $125 per month a year later, with a 2 yr contract. Heaven forbid you cancel early. Their fine print authorizes them to yank the remaining balance of the contract off your credit card with no notice. I watch maybe 5 or 6 channels, and pay for a hundred that I dont want. Grrr......

[jetdrvr]

Good point. DirecTV, which I have subscribed to for years, shows mostly crap. I watch five or six channels and record most programs so I can fast-forward through the damned commercials.

[sammytobe1]

I'm glad these channels are blacked out, their not worth watching anyways.

[Jaylah54200]

Oooooooooh, Empress is going to be really upset to hear this.

[mfsmedia]

Dish network has remained very silent during this argument, wondering if they are just slowly enjoying all the upset customers switching to their service. mfsmedia.com

[Okieguy69]

I love how viacom is telling me to dump my provider. They are just going to try a screw over dish, cox and others next. They put out crappy programming and want us to pay more?

Viacom has not been relevant for a decade. Time for them to go.

[DavidKoch]

Some of these Conglomerates have forgotten what Customers are, or that Customer service is first....its time for a Pay as you go network, choose the channels you want, pay a fee, I dont need 99 channels of crap, I watch maybe 12 TV channels, all the rest is CRAP....when some entreprenuer out there finds a way to bundle channels and sell packages to those that want it, he will be the new TV KING....Dish and Viacomm have forgotten the golden rule, serve the customer, not your greedy filthy banker....

[PeaceInPeaceOut]

Wait! Since I no longer have access to crappy channels I don't watch anyway my DirecTV bill should go down, right? Right?