Update: Viacom has pulled shows from its sites now, so more than just DirecTV customers are affected by this.
DirectTV customers have lost Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and 14 other channels, as Viacom has dropped its networks from the provider.
DirecTV issued a release, saying that its execs have reached out to Viacom with a new proposal, and a request to keep channels while negotiations continue, but have not heard back from the media giant. DirecTV says it had to comply with Viacom’s demand in order to avoid legal action.
“We have been very willing to get a deal done, but Viacom is pushing DirectTV customers to pay more than a 30 percent increase, which equates to an extra $1 billion, despite 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,” said Derek Chang, DirecTV executive vice president of Content, Strategy and Development. “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.”
DirecTV has a site set up with more information about what’s going on, and says it will get the deal done.
Comedian Daniel Tosh, who hosts Comedy Central’s Internet video show Tosh.0, and is currently also in the news for a rape joke, has been talking about the situation a little on Twitter. Before Tosh.0 aired on Comedy Central on Tuesday night, Tosh tweeted:
30 minutes until all of you directv viewers will watch your last episode of tosh.0 ever. #sadface
He later followed up with:
thanks everybody and lets all pray this viacom/directv beef gets squashed by next week.