DirecTV Loses Viacom’s Channels (MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodean, SpikeTV, etc)

[Sccit]

No Deal: DirecTV Loses Viacom’s Channels As Carriage Talks Break Down

20M customers lost Viacom’s 17 channels — including Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central — at about 11:50 PM ET. Now the finger-pointing is underway. Derek Chang, the satellite company’s EVP for Content, Strategy and Development, says that 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. Let’s be clear, Viacom took these channels away from DirecTV viewers.” But Viacom says “DirecTV dropped the channels without giving Viacom advanced warning.” They last spoke at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, the company says. The big issue is price: DirecTV says that Viacom is demanding 30% more for its channels — equal to about $1B. It isn’t justified, Chang says, 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.” Viacom counters that it ”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.”

Viewers who tune in to a Viacom network will see a mix of replacement channels, DirecTV says: For example, in the Nickelodeon slot customers will find other children’s programming choices including The Disney Channel, ABC Family, Cartoon Network, PBS Sprout, The Hub and Boomerang. In addition, customers can “see full-length Viacom episodes for free by going to www.directvpromise.com and clicking on the ‘Other Ways to Watch’ tab,” DirecTV says.

The big question now is: who can hold out the longest? Bernstein Research’s Craig Moffett says that “DirecTV would appear to have significant leverage this time around” because of the weak ratings at Nickelodeon and MTV. But the consensus is that both sides will want to settle this soon. Viacom says that its channels account for about 20% of all the viewing on DirecTV. Nomura Securities’ Michael Nathanson predicts that with no deal “this negotiation between Viacom and DirecTV will turn negative very quickly.” In the end, though, he expects Viacom to receive at least high single digit annual rate increases over the life of its deal. “We do not believe Viacom is worried about the short-term quarterly impact,” he says. Investors didn’t seem especially fearful on Tuesday: On a day when the benchmarck Standard & Poors 500 was down about 0.8%, Viacom dropped 1.6% and DirecTV was down 0.6%.

http://www.deadline.com/2012/07/no-deal-directv-to-lose-viacoms-channels-at-midnight/




dirty

[Sikotic™]

DirecTV ain't shit anyway.

[Hack Wilson - real]

thank god i got cable but HOLY SHIT!!!  that sucks ass


teen nick shows Kenan and Kel, Hey Arnold and Doug at nights....i love watching that shit so i'd be pissed to lose that channel

[Hack Wilson - real]

DirecTV ain't shit anyway.

my parents have it and i don't mind it but they lied to my father about getting the YES network (that broadcasts Yankees games) to get him to sign up initially

my pops is getting the NFL sunday ticket so ima have to go and visit them every weekend 

[Sccit]

DirecTV ain't shit anyway.

whats better than directv? lol

[Sccit]

DirecTV ain't shit anyway.

my parents have it and i don't mind it but they lied to my father about getting the YES network (that broadcasts Yankees games) to get him to sign up initially

my pops is getting the NFL sunday ticket so ima have to go and visit them every weekend 

i have directv and i get the yes network

[Hack Wilson - real]

DirecTV ain't shit anyway.

my parents have it and i don't mind it but they lied to my father about getting the YES network (that broadcasts Yankees games) to get him to sign up initially

my pops is getting the NFL sunday ticket so ima have to go and visit them every weekend 

i have directv and i get the yes network

wtf

[Sccit]

DirecTV ain't shit anyway.

my parents have it and i don't mind it but they lied to my father about getting the YES network (that broadcasts Yankees games) to get him to sign up initially

my pops is getting the NFL sunday ticket so ima have to go and visit them every weekend 

i have directv and i get the yes network

wtf

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/08/sports/baseball/08sportsbriefs-yes.html?_r=1

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-04-07/sports/29412492_1_directv-yankees-fans-twitter


maybe ur pops got a cheap limited package deal or some ish

[Sikotic™]

DirecTV ain't shit anyway.

whats better than directv? lol

The programming is cool but they would always overcharge my parents and went shit broke down it was hard as fuck to get someone to come out and look at it. They cancelled it because of the ridiculous customer service and got cable.

I'm this close myself to just gettin Apple TV or a Roku box and tell cable to kiss my ass.

[Sccit]

DirecTV ain't shit anyway.

whats better than directv? lol

The programming is cool but they would always overcharge my parents and went shit broke down it was hard as fuck to get someone to come out and look at it. They cancelled it because of the ridiculous customer service and got cable.

I'm this close myself to just gettin Apple TV or a Roku box and tell cable to kiss my ass.

thats the same with pretty much any customer service in this country... u gota know how 2 talk 2 them

[Hack Wilson - real]

thats the same with pretty much any customer service in this country... u gota know how 2 talk 2 them

This.

as someone who worked customer service for EA and a cell phone company for a good 4-5 years i can say that if you take your anger out on the customer service rep 9/10 they won't want to help you as much


the nice people?  i'd bust my ass to try to help them but the spoiled rich people got squat.


you know how that Rockband video game has a warranty line?  i was the guy you called if your shit came broken and if you were outside of the warranty period but were nice we'd send you a new one but if you were a dickhead i'd be like "sorry bro your 4 days out of your warranty period.  try searching ebay" hahaha


man i miss the call center days in college, never giving a fuck about the customers.  Electronic Arts (EA) really is a piece of shit company too.  

[Sikotic™]

I get you can talk shit to a customer service rep. I never do. But the DirecTV people would make promises they couldn;t keep. They'd do shit liek say they would be at the house between 11-3 to check a box on a certain day and never show. Then promise someone to show up the next day and nothing. Then they said none of those scheduled appointments were int he computer and if you need service, its gonna take a few more days.

They never forget to send the bill or remind you that your payment is coming up over the phone though those muthafuckas. The only props I'll give em is its pretty easy to talk to an actual person on their customer service line and not some god damn bot.

[Sccit]

I get you can talk shit to a customer service rep. I never do. But the DirecTV people would make promises they couldn;t keep. They'd do shit liek say they would be at the house between 11-3 to check a box on a certain day and never show. Then promise someone to show up the next day and nothing. Then they said none of those scheduled appointments were int he computer and if you need service, its gonna take a few more days.

They never forget to send the bill or remind you that your payment is coming up over the phone though those muthafuckas. The only props I'll give em is its pretty easy to talk to an actual person on their customer service line and not some god damn bot.

if u bring up shit like that when it's time to pay the bill, they'll give u like a month free or some shit...u just gotta work em.

[Hack Wilson - real]

I get you can talk shit to a customer service rep. I never do. But the DirecTV people would make promises they couldn;t keep. They'd do shit liek say they would be at the house between 11-3 to check a box on a certain day and never show. Then promise someone to show up the next day and nothing. Then they said none of those scheduled appointments were int he computer and if you need service, its gonna take a few more days.

They never forget to send the bill or remind you that your payment is coming up over the phone though those muthafuckas. The only props I'll give em is its pretty easy to talk to an actual person on their customer service line and not some god damn bot.

time warner was like that at my old apartment


i hate all these big companies

[O.G A.Geesta'z]

i fucks with U-Verse never really had a problem yet only when the weather gets real bad and they are here the next day to fix it too