DirecTV Close to Deal With Viacom

I haven’t yet commented on the contretemps between DirecTV ($DTV) and Viacom because I didn’t see it lasting long. The short version of the story is that Viacom asked for a lot more money to carry their channels, and DTV said no.

It’s not just DTV who’s getting squeezed. The Dish Network couldn’t reach an agreement with AMC. Interestingly, Time Warner Cable ($TWC) came to DTV’s defense. The bottom line is that there’s just too much money at stake for the sides not to come together. The only issue is price.

The latest news is that they’re close to reaching a deal:

DirecTV (DTV) is closer to restoring Viacom Inc. (VIAB)’s 26 channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, as discussions between the two sides continue, according to the satellite-TV provider’s head of content.

“There’s been progress,” Derek Chang, DirecTV’s executive vice president of content, strategy and development, said yesterday in a phone interview. “We’ve been getting closer. We would love to be done with this thing, but we have to do it in a way that we can protect our customers.”

Posted by on July 18th, 2012 at 1:19 pm


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