If you have Dish or DirecTV, you may be asking “where are my
channels?” As a Comcast customer, I do
not have to ponder. For the last month I have seen disclaimers scroll across my
favorite show alerting me that if I were to remain with Dish or DirecTV (which
I don’t, luckily) I would lose the channel I was watching. Those channels being
Comedy Central (so long Boondocks), MTV, Nickelodeon, Vh1 and BET. I don’t know
how many times I’ve said “There’s nothing on TV” and had to suffer through some
mundane documentation of strangers learning to dance with celebrities or a talk
show with topics of no interest to occupy me for the time being. With Dish or
DirecTV there literally is NOTHING ON TV!
I am a young person in the middle of these “banned” channels’ target audience. Furthermore I’m personally invested in the entertainment industry and I need my shows. There are ways around it, and I loathe admitting this, but with out the Viacom roster, I’d be one bored lady. The reality is, Viacom is a higher costing program that Dish and DirecTV distributors can’t afford to keep. The three companies haven’t been able to reach a contractual agreement over content fees. Sadly subscribers have lost viewership while negotiations continue forward.
According to huffingtonpost.com, TV distributors pay media companies a
few cents per channel per subscriber each month; therefore they attempt to sell
packages of channels for more. As those cost increase, monthly service bills do
the same. Needless to say, the price of
television is going up. In April and May, 1,369 Americans who were surveyed by
the Leichtman Research Group reported that their monthly TV bill raised an
average of 7 percent from a year ago, to $78,63. With Comcast, neither has my
bill gone up, or have I lost my favorite channels. Comcast doesn’t always give
me the best selection of shows, but I wouldn’t be able to deal if they cut the
Viacom channels. The irony is uncanny, yet I say thank you Comcast and welcome
to the new subscribers that come as a result of this blackout.
I am a young person in the middle of these “banned” channels’ target audience. Furthermore I’m personally invested in the entertainment industry and I need my shows. There are ways around it, and I loathe admitting this, but with out the Viacom roster, I’d be one bored lady. The reality is, Viacom is a higher costing program that Dish and DirecTV distributors can’t afford to keep. The three companies haven’t been able to reach a contractual agreement over content fees. Sadly subscribers have lost viewership while negotiations continue forward.
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