On Friday Viacom Inc. and Direct TV announced that they have reached a settlement which will return popular shows such as Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show," "Jersey Shore," "Dora, the Explorer," and many more to over 20 million viewers after a nine day blackout over contract issues between the two companies.
The dispute was caused over a fees demanded by Viacom of Direct TV. According to the Direct TV, Viacom was demanding a 30 percent increase in carriage fees, which would amount to over a $1 billion over five years. Direct TV refused to do so; the two plunged into a very public tussle. They failed to reach upon contract terms and on July 10 and Viacom removed channels such as Nickelodeon, Spike, Comedy Central and MTV from the TV provider.
Executive President of content strategy at Direct TV, Derek Chang told the Guardian, "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... 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."
In a statement released by Viacom, the company expressed that "Viacom is extremely pleased to bring its programming back to DirecTV subscribers, and thanks everyone affected by the disruption for their patience and understanding during this challenging period," as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
