DirecTV and Viacom is currently going through a business war that may force both companies to lose out on millions of dollars in the near future.
Viacom released an official statement stating, “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. We urge DirecTV customers to call 800-531-5000 or visit www.whendirectvdrops.com and demand that DirecTV put its customers first, and keep Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET and all of Viacom’s channels.”
DirecTV fired back with their own responds saying, “Viacom 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….They are using this tactic to try and leverage over a 30% increase (that’s an additional one billion dollars) from our customers for the exact same Viacom channels they receive today.”
The two have been negotiating for months but no agreement has yet been made. DirecTV rejected Viacom’s proposals to renew their agreement and their current deal is set to expire tonight at 12 midnight.
DirecTV has over 20 million subscribers that will be effected if the two can’t coincide.
