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DirecTV Offers Customers a Perk to Offset Missing Viacom Channels

Jul 13, 2012  •  Post A Comment

As negotiations continue between Viacom and DirecTV — and with Viacom’s 17 channels blacked out on the satellite provider’s systems — DirecTV has rolled out a freebie for its 20 million subscribers, Deadline.com reports.

“DirecTV says it is providing eight Encore premium channels as well as services that had been in extra-pay tiers — including PBS Sprout, The Hub, TV One and Fuse — as substitutes for Viacom channels such as Nickelodeon, BET, and MTV,” the story reports.

DirecTV said it hopes the move will help make up for the inconvenience the carriage dispute has caused its customers.

But the story adds: “Consumers shouldn’t expect a resolution soon. Viacom has made a major buy of radio ad time across all major U.S. cities through Sunday. ‘Rather than ramp up the propaganda in newspaper ads and radio spots,” DirecTV says, Viacom should ‘grow up’ and help to ‘get the channels back on the air without an unfair increase to customer bills.’”

DirecTV also reportedly has bought radio airtime, but its intended message was not known. Viacom would not comment for the story.

2 Comments

  1. Hurray for DirecTv! Keep up the good fight. This continual increase in subscription pricing for these networks that no one watches has to stop. I am subscribing to DirecTv to support their battle.

  2. Sorry – giving me PBS Sprout or The Hub (third-tier channels at best) in exchange for pulling Comedy Central, MTV, Nick and Spike? Glad I dumped DirecTV during my last move. Wasn’t loving their service anyway, but this? I want my Comedy Central!!

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