Viacom Yanks Free TV Shows From Web Amid DirecTV Impasse Satellite Operator Offering Starz's Encore Channels Through July 31
By Todd Spangler Multichannel News 7/11/2012 3:29:08 PM http://www.multichannel.com/article/487036-Viacom_Yanks_Free_TV_Shows_From_Web_Amid_DirecTV_Impasse.php Viacom on Wednesday disabled access to dozens of free full-length episodes on its websites -- from shows including Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and MTV's Jersey Shore -- after the media company's networks went dark on DirecTV in a carriage-fee dispute. Shows for which full episodes are no longer available include: Comedy Central's Daily Show and The Colbert Report; Nick's SpongeBob SquarePants, Victorious and iCarly; Nick Jr.'s Dora the Explorer; MTV's Jersey Shore and Teen Mom; and TV Land's Hot in Cleveland. Daily Show episode unavailableAccording to a Viacom spokesman, the company is still offering hundreds of free episodes online but chose to pare back the number of full-length shows available because DirecTV is marketing the Internet video destinations as an alternative to the full networks. Viacom has always intended free online episodes to be a promotional marketing tool for affiliates, he added. The move affects all Internet users -- not just DirecTV subscribers, noted BTIG Research media analyst Rich Greenfield, who reported on Viacom's removal of the full-length episodes in a research note. "While this may upset ISPs customers that do not have DirecTV, we believe the consumers most upset will be those that are trying to find a way to access Viacom content no longer available on DirecTV," Greenfield wrote. DirecTV, which dropped 17 Viacom networks and additional HD channels shortly before midnight Tuesday, has been informing subscribers about how to access free episodes on Viacom's websites via directvpromise.com. Meanwhile, DirecTV said on its website Wednesday that it will make all eight of Starz Entertainment's Encore channels -- including Encore Español and Encore Family -- available to all residential customers through July 31 on channels 535 to 542. "We expect the Viacom channels to return soon," the satellite operator said. DirecTV claimed that Viacom is asking for a 30% rate increase, amounting to $1 billion over the term of the agreement (neither side is disclosing the length of the contract). Viacom has countered that the increase amounts to only "a couple pennies" per subscriber per day -- although that would mean it is asking DirecTV to pay at least $145 million more per year. -- ================================================= George Antunes Voice (713) 743-3923 Associate Professor Fax (713) 743-3927 Political Science Mail: antunes at uh dot edu University of Houston Houston, TX 77204-3011 _______________________________________________ Please be sure to include a URL to the article. Reply to the sender with a "Thank you" if you like this post. _______________________________________________ Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
