After 10 days and a great deal of rancor, the carriage dispute between DirecTV and Viacom has finally come to an end.
Nickelodeon, MTV and all of Viacom's other networks have been returned to the satellite provider's lineup, and while we don't know the cost, there are a couple of things we do know: This was ugly; perhaps the ugliest retransmission fight we've seen so far. Social media "blew up" with tweets, Facebook posts and other commentary, much of it bruising to both sides.
It appears that Viacom took the brunt of the damage from the fight; Deadline Hollywood reports that the company's shares dropped 2% during the standoff, and its networks' ratings fell last week by 27%.
DirecTV's customers, however, appear to have won some new things from the deal. DirecTV will have the "option" to carry the EPIX network, although that isn't required (Viacom had originally insisted that DirecTV take it). Customers will also be able to watch Viacom programming on their TVs, smart phones, tablets and computers with DirecTV Everywhere.
"We are very pleased to be able to restore the channels to our customers and thank them for their unprecedented patience and support," said DirecTV's Derek Chang in a statement released this morning. "It’s unfortunate that Viacom took the channels away from customers to try to gain leverage, but in the end, it’s clear our customers recognized that tactic for what it was."
In its own statement, Viacom said that it was "extremely pleased" to bring its programming back to DirecTV, and thanked everyone for their "patience and understanding during this challenging period."
0 comments:
Post a Comment