Viacom Exec Says No End In Sight To DirecTV Fight; Is EPIX An Issue?

Negotiators spend just “10 minutes a day talking” about substantive matters says Denise Denson, Viacom Media Networks’ EVP for Content Distribution and Marketing. “I don’t see it ending any time soon.” Viacom’s 17 channels went dark for DirecTV’s 20M customers early last week. Afterward�Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman offered a�compromise�proposal to DirecTV CEO Michael White while they were both at the Allen & Co confab in Sun Valley. “Philippe hasn’t heard personally back from Mike since,” Denson says. In her view DirecTV is dragging things out because “in the short term the programmer does feel the pressure from the loss of subscribers.” The satellite company was “bullied into this by their investors” and wants to send a signal to other programmers not to ask for big price increases. But she says that DirecTV is being disingenuous with its subscribers by urging them to hang on in the hope that a resolution could come soon. “It’s completely misleading,” she says. “It is unfair to the consumer that they don’t have the facts.” If they did, and switched to a rival pay TV provider, then “it would be very difficult for DirecTV in the long run.” Meanwhile the facts about the negotiations remain in dispute. DirecTV says that last night it “accepted all material terms” Viacom wanted for its 17 channels. But the programmer also “insists that we carry the EPIX channel at an additional cost of ... Read More »

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