‘Fashion Police’ Writers Chant On Picket Lines: … 
Universal Makes Seven Figure Deal For ‘The School For … 
Steven Soderbergh Will Interrupt Retirement To Direct And … 
Cannes: EOne Announces Itself As Player In U.S. … 
Will LIN TV Stations Go Dark On Time Warner Cable? 
Very Crowded Memorial Weekend Kick-Off: ‘Hangover … 
Shareholders Quiz Time Warner Chief On Political Ties And … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Modern Family’, ‘Law … 
Hammond On Cannes: Paramount’s ‘Nebraska’ … 
Cannes: J.C. Chandor Sets Next Project ‘A Most … 
Hannibal Classics Sets Cast For Nic Cage Pic … 
Hammond On Cannes: Robert Redford’s Brave New Role … 
Hot Trailer: Jennifer Aniston And Jason Sudeikis’ … 
Warner Bros Tells Space Story, From The Bra Designers Who … 
Brad Pitt’s Plan B Banner Promotes Jeremy Kleiner To … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Don Jon’ 
Billy Crystal-Starring Comedy From Matt Nix & Larry … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Dancing With The Stars’ … 
Hammond On Cannes: A New Day Comes To The Fest As HBO and … 
Cannes: Fleming Reflects And Finds Talented Trio A Breath … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Man Of Steel’ 
Word is that negotiations are still moving slowly. And that could mean Viacom’s in for a lot of pain based on Nielsen data from the first week in which its 17 channels were dark on DirecTV. The black out began on July 11, which means that Viacom networks didn’t have DirecTV’s 20M subscribers for five days in the week that ended July 15. During that week, there was a 27% drop in the total day live viewing for the target audiences of Viacom’s networks compared with the same period last year, according to a compilation of ratings data by Barclays Capital. The previous week the networks collectively were -14%. Those with the steepest year-over-year drops were Nick at Nite (-48.1%), Nickelodeon (-45.0%), VH1 Classic (-35.3%), Nick Toons (-34.8%), and CMT (-32.0%). Viacom’s more resilient channels were VH1 (-1.3%), Teen Nick (-2.5%), Comedy Central (-5.5%), BET (-13.0%), and TVLand (-18.1%).
Related: Will Viacom Make Peace With DirecTV By Agreeing To Pull More Shows Off The Web?
The impact on DirecTV is hard to determine until it releases new subscription data. But its rivals smell blood. Comcast, Cablevision, and Dish Network are advertising for DirecTV subs to switch so they can continue to watch Viacom’s channels, BTIG analyst Rich Greenfield reports. While he doesn’t expect a lot of customers to jump just yet, “it will be very challenging [for DirecTV] to sign-up new subs with so many channels missing,” he says. And the impact on DirecTV could be long-lasting because customers will be “far harder to recapture given DirecTV’s lack of a broadband offering.”
Related: DirecTV Offers Free Access To Extra-Pay Channels As Talks With Viacom Continue
How long will the fight last? Even the experts disagree. Barclays’ Anthony DiClements says that “a near-term resolution to the conflict is likely, given the value of Viacom’s programming, and the sheer number of networks at stake for [DirecTV] subscribers.” But Cowen and Co analyst Doug Creutz says he’s “concerned that the DirecTV carriage fight could persist for an extended period of time” — resulting in as much as 40% in lost earnings for Viacom “across the length of the blackout.”
Loading ...
HA-HA.
Suck it Viacom.
Wow, I don’t think I ever realized that Comedy Central was chained to such an array of brain dead channels. That’s a whole big line-up of nothing.
Besides The Daily Show and Colbert, the content on Comedy Central is pretty much brain dead. CC is in good company.
Yeah, fair enough, all I watch is “the boys” as we call them around here, Jon and Stephen.
How do you have as much money as Viacom has and put on so much dreck? Has anyone checked Viacom management to make sure they’re alive? Is this whole dispute a result of the Viacom board having passed away? Maybe they’re just not answering their emails. . .
I hope DirecTV continues to stick it to Viacom and low rated channels.
Hey DirecTV…..I don’t won’t those channel. Just lower my bill and lets move on. Screw Viacom!
Sorry *I don’t want those channels*
So call them, they’ll credit your bill. Took me all of ten minutes.
Well I contacted Directv and asked for a credit for my not getting Viacom. Im out of contract so I can easily leave. This was their response.
Thank you for the feedback about your DIRECTV programming. Negotiations are usually resolved quickly and privately, without a long interruption in your programming. We deeply regret that Viacom has required us to pull these channels during our negotiations. Since these channels were removed last week we have been doing all that we can to bring them back to you without further interruption.
We encourage you to visit directvpromise.com regularly for the most up-to-date information about the status of our negotiations.
Thank you again for your patience.
Sincerely,
DIRECTV Customer Care
You must not have spoken to the right person as I called the first day and got a credit of $5 a month for 6 months. You have to br persistent. Call back and try again you will get your credit if you ask. Good Luck.
5 dollars….That’s it?
They gave me $40/month for 12 months. I’ve been a customer for 5 years and my bill is about $120 a month now.
Is this a reason to get out of your directv contract?
If you’re an idiot and can’t live without your Teen Mom, sure, go ahead and try.
It’s 26 channels which is a significant chunk of channels, i was only asking if this gives subscribers the right to discontinue their service. Are you a jerk because you work for directv?!
26 channels is not a significant chunk of channels. Just look at how many channels DirecTV does offer. Other than Comedy Central, the rest of the channels stink.
They’re being totally shortsighted here. Once your audience is gone… it’s gone. I have kids. They used to watch lots of Nickelodeon shows. They were bummed when Viacom pulled their product… but two days later, they started watching the Disney shows. So, what’s the chance when the big brained negotiators at Viacom finally strike a deal with DirecTV that my kids will break their new habits and come back to the Viacom shows? They won’t.
Kids adapt and get in new habits. So, when Viacom’s ratings are even further down than they’ve been, they won’t be able to charge as much for commercials… and they will have lost whatever money they made playing hardball with DirecTV. As usual, the consumers suffer for the stupid, greedy suits.
What you aren’t taking into account is that Viacom will put on new shows that will draw viewers back, TV programming is fluid, its not a static thing. Directv will have a much harder time luring subscribers back once they’ve switched to other providers, get locked into contracts, and find that they are happy with what they have.
Both sides are being short sighted on this, but Directv has much more to lose in a long term battle than Viacom does.
Plus it’s going to make it harder for Directv to stand up to future programming providers.
Viacom is hurt in the short term, but they won’t have much trouble attracting viewers to new shows. Good luck to DTV in getting new subscribers to join them while they lack Viacom, and getting old subscribers to come back once a deal is struck.
What you are not taking into account is people are far more likely to switch their viewing habits than they are their TV provider. It is far easier to say “Let’s watch Phineas and Ferb instead of SpongeBob” than get your DirecTV service stopped (an expensive and tedious task if you are under contract) and get a new service installed, especially when you consider that nearly every provider has had some kind of channel blackout in the last few months. Even if you are already looking for new TV service, you have to assume this is just a temporary suspension of service, and eventually those Viacom channels will go live again.
I totally disagree. I believe it is the other way around. It’s Viacom who will be the big loser in this (along with a lot of fans). Direct’s customers have contracts that are expensive to break. Plus, renogiations with others such as time warner are just around the corner.
Rates are way to high and I’m glad that direct is standing up to them. If direct gives in, you, the customer, are going to pay the freight.
My son has already started watching other things I don’t think he cares as much as I worried he would. However the price of things go up, 30 percent over 7 years…..that is about how much everything else has increased over 7 years so I think Viacom has a leg to stand on…its a contract they have to account for inflation would you sign a 7 year contract with your employer that said no matter what happens in the economy you will never get a raise? Not that I am defending Viacom To be honest I am beginning to hate both companies either way its all getting canceled after football.I have been a directv customer for 8 years and the past two years I have been getting pretty cranky with them. They insist on charging me for Tivo reviver I bought at best-buy and used like 7 years ago I don’t even own it anymore yet they insist on charging me for the extra line in the house, also last year they had me upgrade my package to get the football, I kept the upgraded package all year again and I am being charged again for football, I called they said it was a promotion….I don’t see that printed anywhere on their website or my paperwork.
Long story short, Netflix, Amazon streaming video, digital receiver antenna, and the internet…..What the hell do we need to pay a provider for…..140 channels of crap…..Buy and stream the shows you want, netflix has sponge bob Dora and 1000′s of kids movies/shows. watch the local channels on the antenna and hit a redbox on the way home from work every so often and tell both Directv and Viacom to go to hell
The Olympics are on slightly over a week. So that should buy DirecTV some time with that distraction. I think DTV has the upper hand in the negotiations. Viacom is losing access to 20 million of apparently their most premium viewers, and it’s costing them in the ratings. And those viewers are now sampling other programming, so say Nickelodeon viewers may get hooked on Disney channel shows. Some Daily Show viewers could watch Conan instead.
Again this isn’t like missing key sporting events, those stale Spongebob shows will be just as funny watching it now or a few months from now.
DirecTV should hold out for a less than five percent increase, if not just no increase. They seem to be a proportionality large percent of Viacom’s ratings so they help pay for themselves in the advertising revenue they provide to Viacom.
I just don’t see a lot of subscribers leaving over this, these channels are really not that important, and I think this blackout just proves that.
DID YOU NOT JUST READ THIS ARTICLE — WHERE THERE IS A SIGNIFICANT DROP IN VIEWERSHIP — SO HOW IS IT THAT THEY ARE NOT THAT IMPORTANT???
Not important to you, and really not important to me either, but there’s a lot of people that do like their channels, and feel like if they are going to be paying the same price for DTV without them as they would for Comcast or Dish etc with them, they might as well switch.
It’s not worth it if they are back on in a week or two, but a few months…
To me, it would seem that Viacom has more to worry about in refunding their advertisers than DirecTV has to worry about refunding their customers. I certainly would expect a reduced rate if I were advertising on a Viacom channel that now has 20M less households and as much as 48% less viewers.
Wouldn’t the loss of those advertising dollars seem greater than a lessor than requested carrier fee?
Thatz the issue..theyrenot lowering our bills so theyre actually profitting….but via needs to realize when we stop watching, we wont come back. hard to see this continuing as these are some major channels & i wouldnt sign up as a new sub. Also no internet from directv is a problem cuz comcast charges an extra 15 if u dint subscribe to cabletv.
Ur right..im watching bravo wwhl instead of ds..if anything really funny airs, its all over the web….gave up teen moms snookie and real world esp since they cut the web streaming..But directv needs to lower bill…giving me channels of unwanted old bad movies doesnt cut it
They said not crediting…they have right to change channels on your package..what did u say & what did they credit
I agree with most here.
Btw I think it’s very shortsighted for anyone to leave DTV over this. You don’t think this will be an issue with the next carrier once their respective contract expires. Viacom is just asking too much IMO for very little.
This is why I’m such an advocate for ala carte programming. It may be more expensive per channel but what’s the use of 100 channels if I only care for 10
ala carte is what customers want as most of us only watch a handful of channels in our lineups. Personally, I hear ESPN is the most expensive part of any package and I have never watched ESPN so wouldn’t mind eliminating it. I don’t have kids so don’t watch any Disney Channels or Nick etc.
I do sometimes watch MTV, Comedy Central, TV Land, and sometimes watch other channels online
But Id say probably 50% or more of channels are not watched at all.
No one misses you that much Viacom. The world can live without Jon Stewart and Steven “One-Note” Colbert for a few weeks.
Hey Viacom, according to this ratings data, you need DirecTV more than they need you. So get back to the table and offer them a deal that is the same rate that they had previously. Without their distribution channel, your networks are worth less.
Due to subscriber agreements, most DirecTV customers cannot flee the service without paying a early termination fee. So the fallout on their end is that a few customers leave, others call for partial refunds or attain some free extra. Most people will only be missing one of their favorite channels. (“and you have to pay for the other 16 to get it?”)
Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman reported made $43M last year.
Since Viacom needs money to please their stockholders, they should simply take it out of the CEO’s salary, rather than bully DirecTV and other providers for unsubstantiated rate hikes — which always comes out of the consumers’ pockets anyway.
Anything that might even peripherally result in the migration towards a la carte programming is a good thing. Let the blackout continue!
Viacom is bleeding and will have to make good with it’s advertisers. Both sides are hurting and they should meet somewhere in the middle.
Can I please just get my channels back, I hate that I have missed one of my favorites Awkward because of that.
Glad to see these cable channels get blocked when they look for more money from subscribers. Hope Viacom loses millions in ad revenue when these ratings are revealed!!!
Let’s not worry about the blame game or which corporation will be the loser in this battle. Let’s see what the average citizen can gain out of this. Everyone reading this call directv and complain with threats of leaving and post what directv is giving you. All cable companies have been overcharging the american public for decades. Remember, we are the victims, not them.
I agree that Viacom is going to suffer more than DirecTV. In the daytime I never turn any of those Viacom channels on. The only thing I watch is The Young and the Restless, The Bold and the Beautiful, Days of our Lives, and General Hospital. If i miss an episode of the soaps I watch the repeats on SOAPnet or I DVR them. At night I watch Teen Wolf. That’s pretty much it. I have no interest in the other channels. They can stay gone as far as I’m concerned. Lord knows we don’t need another bill hike. 30%?! That’s ridiculous. TV is too expensive to pay for now. If my bill dosen’t increase then I dont care if the channels are gone. I’ll watch Teen Wolf on iTunes and the soaps are on Network TV so once again not missing anything from Viacom. lol. I think Viacom is about to go to a place they can never recover from after weeks of having half the audience they did prior to the blackout.
For the Directv Viacom dispute:
My own opinion and my own theory to the Directv Viacom dispute that is causing ratings to suffer on the Viacom own channels.
Every Directv customer should be ashamed of both Philippe P. Dauman and Viacom for this blackout that result in the viewers from being able to watch their favorite shows with Directv. I feel that Philippe P. Dauman and Viacom are trying to be like the Neil Bogarts of Casablanca Records fame of the 1970′s disco era, the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s, the David Smith (one of the Smith brothers from Sinclair Broadcast Group), the Harry Pappas as part of the Pappas Telecasting Companies, the Bernard Madoff’s, the Enron’s, the Worldcom’s, the Adelphia’s, the Tyco’s, and the Martha Stewart’s, of the 2000′s by letting broadcast greed get out of control so all of the head employees and bosses at Viacom to be able to enjoy carefree lavishly spending to support carefree lavishly lifestyles with luxurious homes, luxurious jets, luxurious cars, join luxurious clubs, and have other luxurious items just to make them very happy then trying and willingness to improve the quality of all the stations they owned and control and making the viewers happy as well. I hope and I wish that Philippe P. Dauman and Viacom get scolded by both by the ACA and the FCC for making the viewers being forced to deal with this blackout because they could not make a deal to get the stations back to it’s customers sooner and with a fair deal with Directv. I hope and I wish that Philippe P. Dauman and Viacom is barred from buying and owning anymore TV stations in the future after their final decision to remove the stations from Directv. I feel that Philippe P. Dauman and Viacom are trying to bribe like the General Tire/RKO General of the 1960′s and 1970′s by not being very honest of not only the viewers by making them miss the shows on Directv and also on themselves. I hope and I wish that the FCC would force Philippe P. Dauman and Viacom to allow Directv to carry it’s stations without any interference for 12 whole years to meet FCC rules and regulators. I feel that both Philippe P. Dauman and Viacom are way too busy being the Rebecca Black Friday, Double Take Hot Problems and Guns N Roses Axl Rose as well as trying be act like the Lyle and Erik Menendez’s as the greedy murderers, the Jeffrey Ireland’s, Patrick Jones’s, and the Genaro Anaya’s as the drunks, the Rodney Dangerfield’s, the John Belushi’s, and the Chris Farley’s as the comedians, the John Robert Ewing’s and the Cliff Barnes’s, the Charles Montgomery Burn’s, the Homer and Bart Simpson’s, the Peter Griffin’s, the Garfield cats, the Cookie Monster’s, the Miss Piggy’s, the Victor Newman’s of the broadcasting industry of not coming to reach a deal with Directv to carry it’s stations to the viewers everyday. I feel that both Philippe P. Dauman and Viacom are trying to turn into the 1919 Chicago White Sox’s baseball team and the Southern Methodist University football of the 1980′s to force Directv to accept a take it or leave it deal to carry it’s stations. I urge all of the viewers with Directv to boycott both Philippe P. Dauman and Viacom right now for making the Directv viewers suffer from being able to watch their favorite shows.
I feel the dispute will finally force Directv to carry all of the MTV, VH1, and CMT themed channels as well as finally start carrying all of the EPIX channels in both SDTV and HDTV like DISH does have right now in order for Directv to carry the Viacom channels that got pulled from Directv ever again.
Thank you for my understanding to this matter.
While I agree with DirecTV in this fight, their message from their CEO on the missing channels is priceless.
“Viacom wants to bundle channels and not give you a choice.”
Uh, exactly like you do, DirecTV?
I love it when rich people fight.
Am I doing my math wrong? or this fight is over .60 cents a month?
$1,000,000,000 divided by 20,000,000 customers = $50
divide that over 7 years $7.14 a year divided by 12 59.5 cents a month if they pass the total cost onto us….ummmmm sounds fair to me I wish the other inflation we experienced in the past 7 years were so small, hell in 7 years a loaf of cheep bread went from .79 cents to $1.89 I think we should be mad about other things….