DirecTV and Viacom reached a new long-term carriage agreement on Friday to restore Viacom-owned channels to subscribers of the satellite TV provider.
As previously reported, the channels (including MTV, Comedy Central, BET and Nickelodeon) had been unavailable to DirecTV’s 20 million customers since July 10.
“Financial and other terms weren’t disclosed, but sources said the deal will run for seven years,” notes The Hollywood Reporter. “DirecTV will carry all 26 Viacom channels, or 17 when excluding HD feeds, but said it is not required to carry Epix, the premium TV joint venture of Viacom, Lionsgate and MGM.”
“In addition to the channels’ return, DirecTV customers will also gain the ability to see Viacom programming on tablets, laptops, handhelds and other personal devices via the DirecTV Everywhere platform,” according to the satellite TV company.
“The attention surrounding this unnecessary and ill-advised blackout by Viacom has accomplished one key thing: It serves notice to all media companies that bullying TV providers and their customers with blackouts won’t get them a better deal,” said Derek Chang, executive vp of content strategy and development for DirecTV. “It’s high time programmers ended these anti-consumer blackouts once and for all and prove our industry is about enabling people to connect to their favorite programs rather than denying them access.”
DirecTV and Viacom reached a new long-term carriage agreement on Friday to restore Viacom-owned channels to subscribers of the satellite TV provider.
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