No More Full, Free Episodes for Anyone!
Viacom has stopped streaming full, free episodes of "Jersey Shore," "Teen Mom," "The Colbert Report," and "The Daily Show" to frustrate a DirecTV tactic in the media giants' escalating dispute.
DirecTV subscribers lost access to Viacom channels-- which include Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon-- late Tuesday night after the companies failed to reach a new carriage agreement.
When DirecTV told subscribers they could just watch many Viacom shows for free on Viacom networks' own sites, Viacom answered by halting free streaming for anyone-- not just DirecTV customers.
Attempts to access complete episodes of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central's site Wednesday afternoon, for example, produced a message saying full episodes were unavailable.
DirecTV says Viacom is asking for a 30% price hike. Viacom argues that it is the most-watched programmer on DirecTV, accounting for 20% of all its viewing, but is only paid for about 5%.
DirecTV's "Other Ways to Watch" page still lists paid sites were Viacom shows are available such as Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, and iTunes.
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My message to Viacom...
