Viacom Yanks Free TV Shows From Web Amid DirecTV Impasse
Satellite operator offering Starz's Encore channels through July 31
By Todd Spangler, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/11/2012 4:13:47 PM
Viacom on Wednesday disabled access to dozens of free full-length episodes on its websites -- from shows including Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and MTV's Jersey Shore -- after the media company's networks went dark on DirecTV in a carriage-fee dispute.Shows for which full episodes are no longer available include: Comedy Central's Daily Show and The Colbert Report; Nick's SpongeBob SquarePants, Victorious and iCarly; Nick Jr.'s Dora the Explorer; MTV's Jersey Shore and Teen Mom; and TV Land's Hot in Cleveland.
According to a Viacom spokesman, the company is still offering hundreds of free episodes online but chose to pare back the number of full-length shows available because DirecTV is marketing the Internet video destinations as an alternative to the full networks. Viacom has always intended free online episodes to be a promotional marketing tool for affiliates, he added.
Click here to read the full story at Multichannel News.
Talkback
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The REAL reason for Viacom's ratings woes is that they refuse to even tell viewers when the shows are going to be on air. They refuse to release an accurate schedule for the weekend until the Thursday prior, meaning it doesn't land in most EPGs until Friday. They barely promote anything on air anymore. Meanwhile their competition that is beating them in the ratings makes it a point to tell you the specific day and time the next new episode will air, even if it's a month away. Nick can't even tell us what's airing in two days... A few weekends ago they were beaten by BOTH CN and Disney XD in some of these time slots where they don't announce the schedule until the last minute...
Don't even get me started on the joke that is Nick at Nite which has been off the clock for over a year, they claim a show starts at 2:30am but it doesn't start until like 2:47. NEWSFLASH the same viewers who watch George Lopez are NOT the same viewers who watch the Brady Bunch, Friends or Yes Dear.
KyL - 7/12/2012 4:11:25 AM EDT -
The “Affiliate Relationship” today is becoming increasingly combative and a detriment to consumers.
The cross ownership of content producers, broadcasters and terrestrial distributors is rapidly changing the media landscape and will eventually deter those who risk great financial capital to produce quality programming.
Developing, producing and programming hit shows is an extremely expensive proposition with no guarantees. Making 13, to get 1, that pays for the creative process of ALL and the changing tastes and trends in film and television are literal. Quality media and entertainment product comes at a high cost.
As DirectTV is a disseminator, there is no doubt that they must offer their subscribers diverse, popular quality programming. When DirectTV loses a subscriber , they lose them to triple-play providers loaded for bear.
At what point does VIACOM say enough and acquire their own pipe? MSO, Satellite, Online, Mobile, OTA, Fiber and OEM properties and partnerships abound. But all or any single media platform is worthless without content.
At this critical juncture, it is very important that our industry permits transparent pricing across all media platforms or increased mergers or acquisitions will so fragment the media landscape as we know it, that no one will win. We all want our MTV.
Tony Filson
President
Filcro Media Staffing
ExecutiveSearch.TV
Tony Filson - 7/11/2012 5:33:49 PM EDT
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