Last night, DirecTV subscribers were denied access to Viacom Inc. channels, including BET, Centric, Nickelodeon, MTV, and VH1, after the two sides failed to come to an agreement over a fee dispute.
According to reports, Viacom is asking for a $1 billion pay increase to have it's channels aired on DirecTV, an amount that the company is not willing to pay.
The satellite company released in a statement that it had reached out to Viacom with a new offer "but never heard back, so DirecTV had to comply with their demand to take the channels down."
A statement from BET says DIRECTV refuses to pay fair value to carry their channel, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and all Viacom channels. Viacom is the most watched cable programmer on DIRECTV – and across every distributor, accounting for 20% of all viewing on DIRECTV. At any given time, one out of every five DIRECTV subscribers watching TV is watching a Viacom channel.
The channels will not be back on air until the dispute is settled between the companies.
For more information, please go to whendirectvdrops.com.