DirecTV Dropping 26 Channels Tonight
No more Spongebob Squarepants. No more Jersey Shore. No more Daily Show. DirecTV will be dropping 26 channels tonight at midnight, leaving millions of people without stations like MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon.
DirecTV will be dropping the channels due to a dispute with Viacom.
Viacom writes on its website:
“As of midnight on Tuesday, July 10, DirecTV will drop 26 Viacom channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, VH1, CMT, Spike TV, TV Land and more. Viacom is the most watched programmer on DirecTV. Nickelodeon is the most watched cable network on DirecTV. We regret that DirecTV refuses to consider a fair deal that recognizes the value of Viacom programming.”
According to the Indie Wire, Viacom’s distribution agreement with DirecTV ends tonight at midnight. The two companies have been negotiating for months but have been unable to come to an agreement.
Viacom posted a message on its website urging DirecTV customers to contact the company and demand that they sign an agreement with Viacom.
Viacom writes:
“Despite our 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. This means that, as of tomorrow night, nearly 20 million DirecTV subscribers will be without entertainment from the programmer they watch most. “
DirectTV and Viacom are still looking to reach a deal before the deadline tonight. But one side will have to give in for that to happen.
DirectTV said in a statement that they only want to purchase some Viacom channels.
“Programmers like Viacom typically won’t allow anyone to buy their channels individually, but we hope to change that… We currently pay them hundreds of millions of dollars every year already, and if Viacom thinks their networks are worth a billion more, then you have to be able to select what’s most important in your own living room. It’s your money, so you should be able to decide.”
DirectTV and Viacom aren’t the only two companies feuding over bundling channels. Dish Network announced last month that it was dropping AMC because it no longer wanted to pay for channels like IFC and We TV.
Are you upset that DirecTV is dropping 26 channels?
