Viacom Channels Risk DirecTV Blackout at Midnight Tuesday .

WSJ.com ^ | July 10, 2012 | William Launder

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Viacom Inc. (VIA, VIAB) channels could go dark for DirecTV Group Inc. (DTV) subscribers at midnight in one of the more-significant recent standoffs over television carriage fees.

The pending blackout further highlighted mounting pressure on Viacom, which has seen its ratings fall off in recent months for top shows like Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants" and MTV's "Jersey Shore."

Viacom class A shares fell 2% Tuesday to $49.98, while DirecTV shares slid 0.5% to $48.77.

Viacom is seeking an increase of 30%, or more than $1 billion, in carriage fees, DirecTV said in a statement on its website Tuesday. The country's second-largest pay-television operator, reaching about 20 million households in the U.S., said it is still "working diligently on a new agreement" to keep Viacom channels available for its subscribers.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Looks like the opening shots of a war that's going to go way beyond these companies and this deal.

[JohnBrowdie]

if it takes out “jersey shore”, it can’t be all bad.

[engrpat]

Last week Dish dropped AMC and their related channels.

[ican'tbelieveit]

looked up the affected channels. I might miss Spike (I sometimes catch Auction Hunters, and a few movies they carry), but otherwise, no loss for me. Wonder if my monthly bill will go down as a result...

[Gay State Conservative]

There are,at most,a half dozen channels that I watch.None of them are major networks (except during football season).

[Cementjungle]

Viacom also owns CBS. *snicker*

[righttackle44]

Yea, like I’d really miss Jersey Shore. This is no big deal. DirecTV always works these things out. Even if they don’t, who is going to miss Jersey Shore?

[JSDude1]

So? Millions of customer have lost a bunch of crap..who cares??

[Buckeye McFrog]

In the end the networks have far more to lose from the loss of those eyeballs than the other way around. Their advertisers will be calling for discounts off the rate card within minutes.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Some of these I used to watch but don't anymore. TVLand decided that 90s shows are now classics so they show many I can find on other networks. MTV only got me back just for the relaunch of Beavis and Butthead but they're not showing it anymore. Will miss South Park but not as much as previous seasons. Most of the other Viacom stations take up listing space I have to skip over.

I would love a la carte TV but I still don't think it's going to come soon. Would love to see many of these channels have to try and survive in the open market.

[oh8eleven]

Last week Dish dropped AMC and their related channels.
Good for them. I remember when AMC was commercial free but stopped watching a couple of years ago.
The frequency and length of the commercial interruptions made the movies unwatchable.
I wouldn't be surprised if AMC is close to 15 minutes for show and 15 for commercials today.

[cicero2k]

It’s a dying business model. Two of my grown daughters don’t even have cable into their households.

[IYAS9YAS]

Weird. I saw the message yesterday (SpongeBob was on for the kiddies). I called DirecTV immediately (I watch Spike, and the kiddies love SpongeBob) and was told that they’d already reached an agreement and to not worry about it.

[Sporke]

I’m with you on AMC. I sent them a nasty email when they started the commercials thing. I did get hooked on Breaking Bad, but I’ll get over it. I’ll just watch it online after the season is over.

I’m hooked on TCM now. Great old movies with no commercials. I’ll watch that till they ruin it, then I suppose I’ll just dump cable and watch what I want online. I used to be a sports addict but with all the scumbags on my teams now, I won’t even miss them.

It’s funny, there was more to watch when I only got 3 channels.

[OrangeHoof]

Every time the cable company would have these carriage fee battles, DirecTV was there running nasty ads against the cable companies. So here's a counter ad:

"When you have DirecTV, you miss your favorite Viacom shows.
When you miss your favorite Viacom shows, you get depressed.
When you get depressed, you think of suicide.
When you think of suicide, you head for a nearby bridge.
When you reach a nearby bridge, you get sideswiped by a drunk driver,
When you get sideswiped by a drunk driver, you tumble backwards off the bridge and hit your head on concrete.
When you hit your head on concrete, you wake up in severe pain in a semi-private room next to a screaming man with flatulence.
Don't wake up next to a screaming man with flatulence.
Get cable and don't miss your favorite shows."

[dfwgator]

It’s funny, there was more to watch when I only got 3 channels.

Ain't that the truth.

[Buckeye McFrog]

There is an episode of the original Star Trek where Mr. Spock reveals that the medium known as television “did not survive much beyond the start of the 21st. Century”.

[Spktyr]

Viacom needs to realize that if your ratings are tanking (your product is becoming more unpopular) you cannot expect your broadcasters to pay more for it (you cannot raise prices and expect people to suddenly decide to buy it.)

[Sawdring]

As long as I get to see Breaking Bad I am fine.

[submarinerswife]

I saw the battle of the banners today when my Grandson was watching SpongBob.

On top banner, Viacom claiming that DirecTV would black out their channels at midnight.

The bottom banner was from DirecTV claiming that Viacom wants to raise the rates by 30% (an extra billion dollars)theirhier channels but it was “unlikely” that they (Viacom)would actually go through with removing the channels.