Direct TV drops Viacom?

M

monash65

CAGiversary!
http://www.examiner.com/article/dir...able-subscribers-may-miss-out-on-the-olympics

As a DTV customer, what I am most pissed about is not being able to watch my Comedy Central stuff any more (and yeah I know you can get it all online but I like watching on my big new HDTV, and I pay a load of money every month for that right). Anyone else here affected or do you not watch these channels? Is it worth calling and complaining about this? I read that some of the other services that dropped AMC earlier this year are making it up to their customers in different ways...
 
I don't understand how in these situations you always have someone defending one company over another. In this case the villains are the networks, and DirecTV is just some innocent bystander? Yeah, sure.
 
Lol, I would've never noticed. Just flipped through my channels and they're not just deactivated, they're completely GONE. At first I was like "not nickelodeon!" but then I remembered they haven't had anything worth watching since I was a kid. Comedy Central blows and MTV I deleted from my favorite lineup so I don't even see their channels regardless.

Whatever, it will all blow over in a matter of days when Viacom realizes carriers never give in to this BS. In fact, I'd gladly welcome savings from DTV if they drop them for good.
 
I'm affected too. Sucks because they took a lot kid channels like nickelodeon away that my son liked to watch. My wife watched MTV.

My wife called them to complain and they offered her free channels. She chose the Starz channels over the HBO ones. :(
 
[quote name='SweetP1983']I'm affected too. Sucks because they took a lot kid channels like nickelodeon away that my son liked to watch. My wife watched MTV. Gonna miss Spike TV.

My wife called them to complain and they offered her free channels. She chose the Starz channels over the HBO ones. :([/QUOTE]
LOL, get crushed. Spike was on the list too? Guess I'll miss the 24/7 Star Wars movies (the bad ones) and the one day it's good when they do a Band of Brothers marathon every couple months for American holidays.

Maybe I should call to complain too, since I wouldn't mind some free channels (even though Starz and Showtime suck during the off-season).
 
I'm really annoyed. I realize that you don't really need TV to watch anything these days with the likes of the internet, torrents, etc, but it's just so much more convenient to watch something on my DVR.

I'll mostly miss Comedy Central, but I watched a little of each channel that's now gone. I already have pretty much every channel there is, including all the movie channels, so I'm not sure what they would offer me if I were to call and complain. Money off my bill, perhaps? One can hope.
 
This would be a deal breaker for me. I remember back before Comedy Central was available to me on cable television, like 15 years ago - I remember when I got it and there is no way I would let a cable provider ever take it away from me.
 
[quote name='SweetP1983']My wife called them to complain and they offered her free channels. She chose the Starz channels over the HBO ones. :([/QUOTE]

All I got when I called was $5 off for the next three months. I tried asking for the sports pack but apparently they can't give that away... but somehow they can give the premium movie packs which cost the same. Oh well.
 
[quote name='Clak']There goes Daily Show and Futurama, dammit.[/QUOTE]

And Workaholics and Tosh.0 and Colbert and... :cry:
 
[quote name='Clak']I don't understand how in these situations you always have someone defending one company over another. In this case the villains are the networks, and DirecTV is just some innocent bystander? Yeah, sure.[/QUOTE]

It's hard not to vilify Viacom when they're the one wanting to jack their fees 30% at a time when people are dropping cable/satellite for cheap online streaming (or pirating stuff).

I wouldn't want my DTV rates to go up for it as I watch nothing on their channels but the Daily Show and I can live with out that/watch it online free.

If it weren't for sports I'd just ditch TV as I prefer just waiting and renting seasons of things and don't watch many shows these days anyway as they suck up too much time.
 
I have DTV and you know I don't miss any of it. There really wasn't a show that said I need any Viacom Channel. I mean the only Viacom Programming I have watched in the past 6 months was Spongebob and that's on Netflix if I need my Spongebob fix.

Plus no MTV = a better world for all.
 
[quote name='UncleBob']Dish gave me an XD Roku player and $10/month off my bill for the next 12 months for dropping AMC. :D[/QUOTE]
At one point in time I would absolutely riot if they got rid of AMC from our cable lineup. But since they got rid of the April 1st Three Stooges all day marathon(though I can always just turn on C-Span if I wanna watch some real life stooges:razz:) and started showing more recent movies and considering them 'classics', AMC has turned into the Absolutely Mediocre Crap channel for me anymore.:roll:
[quote name='Kerplunkuga']Well, they also dropped mtv, so you should probably thank them for that at least[/QUOTE]
:lol::applause:No more Snooki and the other garbage they show anymore. What MTV channel number are they up to now? MTV 3 or 4? And do any of them actually show music videos or music related programming anymore?

The only thing MTV was good for was last fall when they brought back Beavis & Butthead for a season.

About the only channel I think I'd miss if Comcast took it off our package is Cartoon Network/Adult Swim. Although the AS programming takes so fuckin' long to make new seasons that you could cancel cable for 2-3 years and still be waiting for the new seasons.
 
I was listening to the Tom Leykis Show and he was telling people to call in and get credits and concessions, and people were calling in telling him what they got.

Most got free Showtime/HBO and $5/month off credits.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']It's hard not to vilify Viacom when they're the one wanting to jack their fees 30% at a time when people are dropping cable/satellite for cheap online streaming (or pirating stuff).

I wouldn't want my DTV rates to go up for it as I watch nothing on their channels but the Daily Show and I can live with out that/watch it online free.

If it weren't for sports I'd just ditch TV as I prefer just waiting and renting seasons of things and don't watch many shows these days anyway as they suck up too much time.[/QUOTE]
Don't think for a minute that DTV isn't also looking out for it's bottom line though. They could strike a deal with Viacom and pay a bit more for the channels without increasing their rates, but they aren't going to do that because of their profit margin. Neither company is exactly saintly in all this.
 
Of course. All corporations suck.

Seems this isn't just about the 30% increase, but that DTV also wants to break up the Viacom channels and not force customers to pay for the whole bundle of them. I'm guessing MTV is a big chunk of the cost and a lot of people never watch it.

I'm all for that as I really want ala carte HDTV options. All I need are the networks/locals (don't get much with antenna in my condo), the ESPN channels and the sports pack in fall/winter to get the regional channels for college football and basketball.
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']Of course. All corporations suck.

Seems this isn't just about the 30% increase, but that DTV also wants to break up the Viacom channels and not force customers to pay for the whole bundle of them. I'm guessing MTV is a big chunk of the cost and a lot of people never watch it.

I'm all for that as I really want ala carte HDTV options. All I need are the networks/locals (don't get much with antenna in my condo), the ESPN channels and the sports pack in fall/winter to get the regional channels for college football and basketball.[/QUOTE]
I think TV needs to go ala carte to save itself. I mean MTV is a channel I never watch, why should I pay for it. I could eliminate a bunch of channels that I don't watch or no one in my household does.
 
A la carte would be great. Trading away the 4 Christian channels I currently get in my package for something my irreligious self would actually watch would be a boon.

I'm sure we would have seen it by now if hostage bundles weren't as good of a cash grab for the media corps.
 
Well the problem is cable and satellite providers don't want ala carte either as it would lower their profits vs. selling big bundle packs full of channels people don't watch. Just like Viacom and other media groups want to sell all their channels rather than individual ones.

But at least if DTV wins this and is able to offer their own bundles of Viacom channels rather than all 17 (or whatever) of them like Viacom wants, that's weakening one side of the equation and hopefully is at least a small step toward eventual ala carte options.

I figure we'll get there eventually as streaming video continues to rise and people get more and more used to picking things to watch on demand rather than paying for cable/satellite and watching things live or recording things to watch later. Picking individual channels to have is a logical progression IMO. But since it cuts into the bottom lines of networks and cable/satellite providers it will probably be slow coming.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
[quote name='monash65']You got a Roku for free, no catch???[/QUOTE]

None that I know of. Didn't even renew my contract - I specifically asked about that.

Someone mentioned that DirecTV wouldn't give them the Sports package for free, but would give them a premium package of the same price for free. You should ask about getting the price of that premium package taken off your bill. If you can get them to agree to that, then ask them to add the sports pack. :D
 
So now Viacom has taken to removing current content from their websites, no newer episodes of The Daily Show are available online for example. They did this because DTV has been telling customers to just go online to watch them.
 
[quote name='Clak']So now Viacom has taken to removing current content from their websites, no newer episodes of The Daily Show are available online for example. They did this because DTV has been telling customers to just go online to watch them.[/QUOTE]Well, in their defense the servers were likely being overloaded from traffic.

I'm actually glad DTV is sticking up for us and telling them to fuck off. Viacom is the one in trouble here, not DTV so the sooner they realize they're not getting more money, the sooner they can stop pissing people off.

Look at how childish these fucks are lol (posted on their facebook apparently):

527928_392567080808126_1404036562_n.jpg
 
[quote name='Jodou']Well, in their defense the servers were likely being overloaded from traffic.

I'm actually glad DTV is sticking up for us and telling them to fuck off. Viacom is the one in trouble here, not DTV so the sooner they realize they're not getting more money, the sooner they can stop pissing people off.

Look at how childish these fucks are lol (posted on their facebook apparently):

527928_392567080808126_1404036562_n.jpg
[/QUOTE]

They're not sticking up for you, they're just protecting their bottom line. That picture is hilarious, though.
 
[quote name='Squall835']They're not sticking up for you, they're just protecting their bottom line. That picture is hilarious, though.[/QUOTE]
They could just as easily OK the price increase and pass the cost on to us, which they're not.
 
[quote name='Jodou']They could just as easily OK the price increase and pass the cost on to us, which they're not.[/QUOTE]
Because they know they'd lost customers if they did.;)
 
Hard to bitch at either corporation really when you think about it. They're each looking out for their own bottom lines, just as all of us are concerned about it as we don't want our bottom lines affected in terms of any DTV bill increases.
 
This happens ALL the time. Didn't AMC get removed from Dish Network few weeks ago? (might have been resolved by now). I also remember East coast getting dicked by there own local sports network few months ago over a dispute with Time warner.....and they couldn't watch there own N.Y Knicks games during the hype of Linsanity. :lol:

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2012/02/cant_watch_linsanity_from_the.html

These things usually get resolved rather quickly, kina rare when channels actually get pulled off. As of now, i think Direct TV is giving us free "Encore" channels for the rest of the month. I really dont watch any of those channels besides Comedy Central once in a while, so Meh.
 
[quote name='Viol8tor']This happens ALL the time. Didn't AMC get removed from Dish Network few weeks ago? (might have been resolved by now).

These things usually get resolved rather quickly, kina rare when channels actually get pulled off. As of now, i think Direct TV is giving us free "Encore" channels for the rest of the month. I really dont watch any of those channels besides Comedy Central once in a while, so Meh.[/QUOTE]

I remember when FX was considered to be dropped. Though they made a deal before that date. I am a little sad to miss out on Comedy Central. I haven't called to complained cause I'm not the owner (and probably need that info) and these things usually get resolved. I may lose a few days, but I do feel it will come back...hopefully.
 
[quote name='Clak']So now Viacom has taken to removing current content from their websites, no newer episodes of The Daily Show are available online for example. They did this because DTV has been telling customers to just go online to watch them.[/QUOTE]

Annoying since I usually go to comedycentral.com to watch The Daily Show and Colbert, and now I suddenly can't because of some dispute with a company I have no involvement with. Really making yourself look good there, Viacom.
 
Only cable option here is Comcast and I had several day plus outages when I had them both here and in the DC area a few years back.

I'll take losing signal for a couple of minutes in torrential downpours every now and then over that and Comcast's shitty customer service.
 
[quote name='cmb00']drop the dish and go cable. you never lose signal when it rains.[/QUOTE]
I wish that was true, when I had Comcast it went out in the rain all the time.
 
[quote name='Stoic Person Eater']If any DirectTV customers want me to verbally recap Tuesday's Workaholics, let me know. It was hilarious.[/QUOTE]
Can you post pictures to help the story telling? I need some visual aides.

[quote name='cmb00']drop the dish and go cable. you never lose signal when it rains.[/QUOTE]

Having Dish I have NEVER lost connection once. That and living on the West Coast I get East Coast times for most shows. I don't have to stay up. That and I use to have Cox cable and the place I'm living in has bad/old wiring apparently. So it would lag a lot or when you stepped in the kitchen it would freak out sometimes. They said they would have to redo wiring or something for it to be better and would cost a lot of money. They did something that made it a lot better, but still not perfect.
 
[quote name='cmb00']drop the dish and go cable. you never lose signal when it rains.[/QUOTE]

Dream on. TWC in my current town goes in and out with storms vs my directv prior. Main reason I switched to Directv was how terrible my local cable signal company was (comporium). When you add in the old cable boxes, not as good HD signal and channel selection, and poor interface, you get an overpriced cable. Sure they have viacom for now... I look at it this way... I already watch too many shows so it frees me up for other things. PS isnt one of those cable companies not getting most of this summers Olympics?
 
[quote name='Stoic Person Eater']If any DirectTV customers want me to verbally recap Tuesday's Workaholics, let me know. It was hilarious.[/QUOTE]

I'd be interested in that. Although they didnt pull CC until Wednesday, so I got to watch it. Only show I'll miss
 
[quote name='dmaul1114']
Seems this isn't just about the 30% increase, but that DTV also wants to break up the Viacom channels and not force customers to pay for the whole bundle of them. I'm guessing MTV is a big chunk of the cost and a lot of people never watch it.
[/QUOTE]

The costliest cable channel is actually ESPN, which adds about $5/month to your bill. This was a major factor in getting rid of cable for us because nobody in our household watches sports. MTV is around 33 cents as of 2009.
 
Well I called into direct tv and got 10 bucks off my bill and show time free for two months. That will work.
 
this is what happens when u cant work out ur differences... calbe netwroks r just like people if they argue and dont argree on things guess wat? ur service suffers and ur channels get dropped. this is a very good lesson 4 everyone on here 2 b nicer 2 each other.cuz u nevaer never know what can and will happen .
 
a dish guy came around today looking to prey upon people in the neighborhood ready to switch due to this channel stuff. thing is, thanks to some weird shit i get both east and west coast channels which is really nice cuz i get to watch the late night stuff early and sleep at a normal time.

of course no other company can offer me this so i'm sticking with dtv.
 
[quote name='crystalklear64']a dish guy came around today looking to prey upon people in the neighborhood ready to switch due to this channel stuff. thing is, thanks to some weird shit i get both east and west coast channels which is really nice cuz i get to watch the late night stuff early and sleep at a normal time.

of course no other company can offer me this so i'm sticking with dtv.[/QUOTE]

Same here! We've gotten both the east and west coast channels for years now and if we change up our package, we'll lose that.

It's so nice having extra time to watch or record something.
 
[quote name='Spokker']The costliest cable channel is actually ESPN, which adds about $5/month to your bill. This was a major factor in getting rid of cable for us because nobody in our household watches sports. MTV is around 33 cents as of 2009.[/QUOTE]

And this is why ala carte pricing won't work. It'll just all add up to the same price you pay now just with fewer channels. People complain they get channel x and channel y but in reality those channels probably cost a quarter or less.

And to the guy defending Direct TV. Yea they're not taking the deal from Viacom and charging you more, but they're also not lowering your bill either from what it cost them for these channels either.
 
[quote name='Thongsy']And this is why ala carte pricing won't work. It'll just all add up to the same price you pay now just with fewer channels. People complain they get channel x and channel y but in reality those channels probably cost a quarter or less.

And to the guy defending Direct TV. Yea they're not taking the deal from Viacom and charging you more, but they're also not lowering your bill either from what it cost them for these channels either.[/QUOTE]
Not defending them but my bill was lowered after calling in (didn't beg for it). They lowered it for a limited time since they claim a deal will be worked out... if it doesn't, I will call and get it discounted again.

All Viacom is doing is promoting pirating. Just like AMC to Dish fans. AMC is giving Dish users Breaking Bad Episode 1 and then never showing the rest of the season in hope of getting them to switch providers. What dicks... Do they really think their users aren't going to go somewhere to get it (without switching providers), which most likely is coming from pirating... Cable is a sinking ship unless they fix their business model.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top