Viacom has warned that there is “no deal in sight” in its carriage dispute with DirecTV, as the latter claimed unreasonable demands regarding paynet Epix were holding up talks.
As the war of words escalated between the two firms yesterday, DirecTV said it was “ready to close” a deal to reinstate the 17 (26 including HD feeds) channels that were pulled from its platform last week. It said it had “accepted all material terms” with Viacom to do so.
However, in a statement, the firm added that Viacom insisted it also carry Epix – its joint venture with MGM and Lionsgate – at an additional cost of more than US$500m.
“We know our customers don’t want to pay such an extreme price for an extra channel. They simply want the ones they had returned to them,” DirecTV said.
Viacom hit back, dismissing the claims as a “complete work of fiction.”
In a blog post, the company said: “We’ve offered DirecTV various compromise proposals – proposals without Epix, proposals with Epix, and proposals with significant incentives to carry Epix. DirecTV did not accept all material terms for our channels, nor are we asking for a sum of US$500m.”
Earlier in the day Viacom alleged that DirecTV had shown no urgency in working out a resolution to the spat, which saw networks including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central go dark on the platform over a week ago.
Viacom claimed that it had made “a significant and comprehensive compromise proposal to DirecTV last Thursday” that could have restored all its channels by the following morning. It also said that it had since made “several additional compromise proposals,” as recently as Tuesday night. It said negotiations were now at an “impasse.”
The news came as Time Warner Cable (TWC) issued its own statement in favour of DirecTV, claiming that “consumers are tired of these disputes and so are we.”
TWC is currently embroiled in its own carriage dispute with Hearst, with 13 of the latter’s local stations going dark on its platform last week as a result.
“Television networks can’t continue to demand huge price increases and expect us to silently pass those cost increases on to our customers,” said TWC, citing its own platform, DirecTV and satellite rival Dish Networks, which recently dropped AMC’s channels in a carriage dispute.
“We will continue to stand up for consumers against programmers’ outrageously large price increases that serve no purpose other than to line network pockets at our customers’ expense.”
Hearst Television president David Barrett hit back: “Warner Cable is refusing to participate in a negotiating process that has enabled us to conclude more than 150 agreements, without service interruptions, in recent months,” he said.
He criticised TWC for conducting a “public relations bandwagon” that included “various unrelated negotiations with programme providers.”
DirecTV needs to get off of their high-horse and just pay Viacom the extra money, otherwise they're going to lose a lot more than the money they have to pay by fleeting customers.
SN: Everyone should switch to AT&T's U-Verse anyway.
SN: Everyone should switch to AT&T's U-Verse anyway.
THIS. I honestly would never go back to DirecTV unless they gave it to me almost for free. U-Verse >>>>>>>>>>>> Good price AND their tech support people gave us 3 months of HBO and Cinemax for FREE just because we were having issues with our receivers and had to call them a lot in a week. We've been with them for less than a month and they're already doing that for us!!!
I don't watch TV, but that really sucks for people who are paying for DirecTV. I could definitely see people hopping over to Comcast or Dish Network because of this, and DirecTV is well aware of this.
How long until people can just pick and choose the channels they want and only pay for those channels? I guess that won't get these greedy corporations enough money.
I want to know EXACTLY what these deals are. Being so damn ambiguous.
Im staying right here at home with my Comcast