DirecTV vs Viacom

[TWCToday]

So who thinks a blackout will actually happen tonight on DirecTV of all of the Viacom owned stations?
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/328285

I predict a press release around 10pm with both sides claiming to have saved the day in the name of consumers 

[Trevor]

I think the same will happen. Just like that whole fiasco with DISH and TWC a few years back...I think they're just doing it to prove a point.

[WeatherWitness]

How many times have we been through something like this, and how many times has the threatened "blackout" ceased to happen?

Yeah, I am with Martin on this one.

[TWCToday]

Wow guess I was long. Though I don't think it will last long

http://blog.viacom.com/2012/07/directv-drops-26-viacom-channels/

"The eleventh hour has come and gone and, unfortunately, the unthinkable has happened.

At approximately 11:50 p.m., DirecTV dropped 26 Viacom channels, including:

Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV, BET, VH1, CMT, Logo, Spike, TV Land, MTV2, VH1 Classic, Palladia, Nick Jr., NickToons, TeenNick, Nickelodeon West, Tr3s, Centric, MTV India, Nickelodeon HD, Comedy Central HD, MTV HD, BET HD, VH1 HD, CMT HD and Spike HD.

DirecTV dropped the channels without giving Viacom advanced warning.  The last time Viacom was contacted by DirecTV was at approximately 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

Here’s the official statement from Viacom:

We are deeply disappointed that DirecTV dropped Viacom’s channels before our midnight deadline this evening, severing our connection with its nearly 20 million subscribers nationwide.  We 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.  We are hopeful that DirecTV will work with us toward a resolution, and stop denying its subscribers access to the networks they watch most."

[WeatherSTARIII]

For now, at least I could still live on without Snooki and Spongebob. 

[Eric]

Central Florida is going through a bit of a blackout of its own.  The cable company has stopped showing the local NBC affiliate, its sister station (a CW affiliate), and their two subchannels: MeTV (which I'm really missing) and This TV.

The local NBC affiliate has been replaced by an NBC affiliate from northeastern Pennsylvania (roughly 1,000 miles away, but Time Warner's "go-to" blackout replacement for NBC, apparently).  CW has been replaced by the TV Guide Channel (usually unavailable on standard cable).  MeTV has been converted into a limited NBC On Demand channel to repeat some primetime programming.  This TV has just been taken off the lineup altogether.

According to statements by both the NBC affiliate and Bright House Networks, the retransmission negotiations had been going very badly for months, the deadline was extended, and then negotiations just broke down altogether.  On the other hand, Bright House's subscribers are already very unhappy about local news being replaced with that of the Poconos (despite still receiving the full NBC output), and the total loss of CW, MeTV, and This TV.  In addition, the real sticking point is that, by its own admission, the local NBC affiliate has lost fully 50% of its audience, which is really going to start eating into the advertising budget.

[toxictwister00]

Wow guess I was long. Though I don't think it will last long

http://blog.viacom.com/2012/07/directv-drops-26-viacom-channels/

"The eleventh hour has come and gone and, unfortunately, the unthinkable has happened.

You can only keep screwin' around with cable/satellite companies on these blackout situations for so long before they can show them better than they can tell them. It might like seem like it to some of the costumers I'm sure are pissed, but DirectTV obviously cares about their subscribers if they're willing to go as far as eliminating those channels just to prevent passing the rate increases from Viacom to their subscribers. Comcast wouldn't give a damn about passing on the rate increase if it was them in this type of situation.

[Zach]

Central Florida is going through a bit of a blackout of its own.  The cable company has stopped showing the local NBC affiliate, its sister station (a CW affiliate), and their two subchannels: MeTV (which I'm really missing) and This TV.

The local NBC affiliate has been replaced by an NBC affiliate from northeastern Pennsylvania (roughly 1,000 miles away, but Time Warner's "go-to" blackout replacement for NBC, apparently).  CW has been replaced by the TV Guide Channel (usually unavailable on standard cable).  MeTV has been converted into a limited NBC On Demand channel to repeat some primetime programming.  This TV has just been taken off the lineup altogether.

According to statements by both the NBC affiliate and Bright House Networks, the retransmission negotiations had been going very badly for months, the deadline was extended, and then negotiations just broke down altogether.  On the other hand, Bright House's subscribers are already very unhappy about local news being replaced with that of the Poconos (despite still receiving the full NBC output), and the total loss of CW, MeTV, and This TV.  In addition, the real sticking point is that, by its own admission, the local NBC affiliate has lost fully 50% of its audience, which is really going to start eating into the advertising budget.

Your NBC affiliate is owned by Hearst, as is your CW affiliate. Whenever channels like this go at dispute with television providers, it's usually through the channel's owner and not just the channel itself. In this case, any Hearst station in a Time Warner (or Bright House market at that) wouldn't be seeing that station due to the dispute.

[Localonthe8s]

Yikes, hopefully a compromise is reached soon. I am a fan of DirecTV and prefer it very much over Dish but I probably would not switch back to them if the channels don't come back soon

[TWCJim]

I never liked DirecTV or Viacom to begin with anyway, so none of this doesn't really matter to me 

[Austin M.]

Yikes, hopefully a compromise is reached soon. I am a fan of DirecTV and prefer it very much over Dish but I probably would not switch back to them if the channels don't come back soon

No point in switching as Viacom will do the same to other cable companies later on down the road.