ENTERTAINMENT
DirecTV, Viacom dispute leads to dropping of 26 channels
Millions of DirecTV subscribers across the United States can no longer watch Jersey Shore, The Daily Show or any other shows on networks owned by Viacom, at least for now.
The satellite television giant cut off more than a dozen Viacom-owned networks late Tuesday night, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV, the company said in a statement. Viacom says the company dropped their channels without any notice.
The dispute spawned from Viacom's desire to charge DirecTV more for its programming, according to the New York Times.
"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," Viacom spokesman Mark Jafar said in a statement.
However, DirecTV maintains that subscribers would have seen a 30 percent increase in prices if they went along with Viacom's demands.
"We have absolutely no problem compensating Viacom fairly, but they have now knowingly put our customers in the unreasonable position of either accepting their extravagant financial demands or losing some of their favorite TV shows," DirecTV Executive Vice President Derek Chang said.
In short, the two companies are essentially blaming each other for the content blackout.
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