Current Status of DirecTV Viacom Contract Dispute – Latest Update Released

As of today, Monday July 16, the most recent update on the status of the contractual dispute between DirecTV and Viacom remains unsettled. Currently Viacom has blocked a total of 17 of its channels from the satellite television provider’s line-up pending resolution to the dispute.

Last week, Viacom blacked-out popular channels from the DirecTV service demanding more money from the company. DirecTV countered saying that the amount of money was too high and would amount to $1 billion in added costs to its customers. The channels current under the blackout include MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, TV Land, BET, CMT, Comedy Central, and Spike.

In the latest update from DirecTV, the company said that is has received overwhelming support from more than 850 small and medium-sized independent cable companies around the country. The companies called for Viacom to end the blackout affecting nearly 20 million customers.

“Viacom insists on being richly rewarded not for the quality or popularity of its content but for its sheer ability to muscle distributors — including small, independent cable operators with no bargaining leverage – into overpaying for marginal services,” said Matt Polka, president and CEO of the American Cable Association. “How broken is today’s programming marketplace when customers of not just smaller, independent operators suffer at the hands of media conglomerates like Viacom, but also the customers of a company with national scale like DirecTV?”

Also backing DirecTV in its fight with Viacom is Cox Communications, the nation’s fifth-largest cable operator.