DirecTV and Viacom Reach Agreement

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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After a hiatus of almost two weeks, Viacom will be restoring access to 17 channels that were cut from DirecTV’s lineup. The agreement amount wasn’t disclosed, but speculation put the amount in the $600 million range per year in royalties.

Various outlets reported earlier this week that the two companies were working on another deal to restore service, no doubt spurred to action by irate DirecTV customers.
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Content providers are the reason for high cable bills. Greedy bastards
 
What the fuck. $600 million for 17 channels that aren't even that great. At least from those listed, they are mostly crap channels. Seriously something is wrong here.(As in retarded)
 
I can't even watch TV anymore, too many commercials. Even fast forwarding on a DVR is too much of a PITA. I don't understand why you pay so much for TV and then still have to sit though all those commercials. Look at this info taken from a Wiki article:
In the 1960s a typical hour-long American show would run for 51 minutes excluding advertisements. Today, a similar program would only be 42 minutes long; a typical 30-minute block of time now includes 22 minutes of programming and eight minutes of advertisements - six minutes for national advertising and two minutes for local.[7] A television broadcast of the 101-minute film The Wizard of Oz (1939) for instance, could, in the early to mid-1960s, take two hours even with advertisements. Today, a telecast of the same film would last approximately two hours and 15 minutes including advertisements, if the film were not edited to fit within the time allotted, as is common practice.
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Next time you see a movie on your program guide take a look at how long it is on the guide and then go look up the length of the movie on imdb.com.
 
Content providers like Viacom are why we don't have a la carte television selections. They know that consumers would rather pay less for the channels they want instead of being forced to take 16 worthless channels in a bundle along with the two channels you want.
 
DirecTV should have just say fu and said this is what we offing you take it or take you 17 channels to some place else.
 
I am a directTV customer and I hope they didnt cave in. Its sucked missing the last 2 weeks of Futurama, but I dont want to see my bill go up even if it means I miss CC completely.
 
MrValentine said:
I am a directTV customer and I hope they didnt cave in. Its sucked missing the last 2 weeks of Futurama, but I dont want to see my bill go up even if it means I miss CC completely.
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Already went up last year over the stupid Fox thing, now its going to up even more for even worthless content. The worst part is I hate TV but my wife can't live with out it...
 
niconx said:
I can't even watch TV anymore, too many commercials. Even fast forwarding on a DVR is too much of a PITA. I don't understand why you pay so much for TV and then still have to sit though all those commercials. Look at this info taken from a Wiki article:

Next time you see a movie on your program guide take a look at how long it is on the guide and then go look up the length of the movie on imdb.com.
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How is fast forwarding a pain in the ass ? :confused:

It seriously takes me like 3-4 seconds to go past ads and back to what I'm interested in. Is that 3-4 seconds seriously so damn involved?

Seriously a weak complaint.


As far as Viacom , its no surprise. They want tons of money for their content and because of that we (the consumer) end up paying for it as the result , price hikes rarely effect anything but the consumer truly. At this point its getting so expensive to even get just basic channels and internet. And the worst has to be the requirement of bundled service to afford it all , I hate bundling my services. Eventually this system of the content providers constantly jacking up rates and consumers having to feel the sting of it will fail. I can barely justify cable tv for what it costs. I think I would rather just wait for it to stream online or buy it if it truly interests me in Blu Ray form.
 
People bitch about cable tv, yet they go and order it and pay their monthly cable bills.

My mind boggles. If you are gonna bitch about it, then do without it, cable is hardly necessary in today's world.
 
Why pay for commercials when every episode is available on the web with the commercials stripped out. You can watch it when you want and pause it. Growing up my parents refused to buy cable. Everything we watched came from an antenna. The last 10 years, I have been torrenting around one terrabyte every 2 months, but I am fortunate to have FIOS with consistent speed and no cap. Also don't have a family. I realize some have no choice, but it blows my mind how much people piss away each month on internet, TV, and phone. The media and communications cartel in the US is gently pounding everyone sans lube like the Marccellus rape scene in pulp fiction and people just take it.
 
WetMacula said:
Why pay for commercials when every episode is available on the web with the commercials stripped out. You can watch it when you want and pause it. Growing up my parents refused to buy cable. Everything we watched came from an antenna. The last 10 years, I have been torrenting around one terrabyte every 2 months, but I am fortunate to have FIOS with consistent speed and no cap. Also don't have a family. I realize some have no choice, but it blows my mind how much people piss away each month on internet, TV, and phone. The media and communications cartel in the US is gently pounding everyone sans lube like the Marccellus rape scene in pulp fiction and people just take it.
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Actually, YOU are making it cost more for the paying customers.
 
Horseshit. TV companies are making billions in profits. Offer me a service where any TV show can be download fast without commercials and I will pay for it.
 
Fail said:
People bitch about cable tv, yet they go and order it and pay their monthly cable bills.

My mind boggles. If you are gonna bitch about it, then do without it, cable is hardly necessary in today's world.
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Because not everyone wants to stoop low enough to pirate?

Also, while many bitch, there are also certain reasons why we get it. Most of them are for parents who have children, for me it's for convenience. Just like I use Steam because it's easier(Amazon often has boxed games that are cheaper than steam, depending on which game it is)
 
Fail said:
People bitch about cable tv, yet they go and order it and pay their monthly cable bills.

My mind boggles. If you are gonna bitch about it, then do without it, cable is hardly necessary in today's world.
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I'm doing it next month , I've only put it off because talking to Verizon phone reps is like trying to communicate Quantum Physics to a Platypus. Once I do it though I'm going to save a shit ton per month.
 
A little math here ..

20 Million DTV customers
$600 Million
= $30 /per customer /per year

I guess it's an improvement. They originally wanted just "pennies a day" which equated to $54/yr or something.

Sumbitches. I only ever watch Comedy Central and TBH, I've been fine "acquiring" those elsewhere. SpikeTV is a commercial channel that runs occasional show breaks. The rest are not in my age bracket (NICK) or just plain dumb (MTV).
 
want more math?

direct tv raises their programming price every year by 3% in feb. In 23 years the price you pay for content doubles. Ie if your paying 80$ a month for direct tv now, in 23 years you will be paying 160$. Probably more, they always find ways to make your bill go higher.

Like charging for DVR service, and HD content, and whole house dvr etc..... I like to call them profit only services, because it literally doesn't cost them anything extra for you to have these services. I can understand why they want to charge stupid amounts for the equipment, but not the services that go along with that equipment.
 
wonderfield said:
Yep. I'm not big on TV shows for the most part, but I've purchased every season of Top Gear on iTunes. Lots of content; low price; good quality. Can't complain.
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Holy fuck are you kidding? Every SEASON of Top Gear UK? :eek:

That's like 18 seasons , you spent a ton of cash then. You should just have gone with a Netflix sub :D

By the way , Top Gear UK is my favorite show.
 
Godmachine said:
How is fast forwarding a pain in the ass ? :confused:
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1) I hate to be interrupted by obnoxious announcers and salesmen.

2) I am paying money to have commercials delivered to me. Free over the air broadcasts have the same exact amount of commercials as the most expensive cable tv.

3) I have to use a DVR in the first place which with AT&T means only 4 streams and since other people in the house record every goddamn thing on TV because of the fucking commercials that means I can never watch what I want without it being live so I am forced to watch the commercials anyhow even though I pay and even though I have a damn DVR.

So that's why it's a PITA.
 
Fail said:
People bitch about cable tv, yet they go and order it and pay their monthly cable bills.

My mind boggles. If you are gonna bitch about it, then do without it, cable is hardly necessary in today's world.
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This.

I recently upgraded from a digital OTA rabbit ear to basic-basic cable. Why? Changed ISPs for faster service, and they offered the first 22 channels "free" with their 20/2 cable modem service.

If it didn't come "free", and it required any extra equipment I would a told them no.
 
Godmachine said:
Holy fuck are you kidding? Every SEASON of Top Gear UK? :eek: That's like 18 seasons , you spent a ton of cash then. You should just have gone with a Netflix sub :D
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iTunes is missing a few of the earky seasons, but yeah. They do actually go on sale pretty frequently, so if you aren't opposed to waiting, you can get some good deals.
 
Godmachine said:
Holy fuck are you kidding? Every SEASON of Top Gear UK? :eek:

That's like 18 seasons , you spent a ton of cash then. You should just have gone with a Netflix sub :D

By the way , Top Gear UK is my favorite show.
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I have all 18 seasons of UK including all the specials.
I have seasons 1, 2, and 3 of the Austrailia Top Gear.
I have Season 1 when they aired Top Gear in America.

It wasnt until last week that i saw they are selling Top Gear UK Seasons in USA. It was only Season 18 though.
 
I ditched DirecTV last week, but not because of the Viacom thing. Doing Internet/Hulu+/digital antenna (maybe) thing. Had DirecTV for over 5 years @ $88/mo. Added extra player (non-DVR) for bedroom 6 months ago that cost another $10/mo. Was angered to find out that the addition of the extra player entered me into new 2 year contract. Screw them. They tried to offer me discounted packages to keep me. Cut the losses and paid early termination. You can't even speak to a supervisor about early termination fees (they say). I was told I could write a letter to a PO box. Done with contract companies if at all possible.
 
Well, I got a free upgrade and more money off my monthly bill for a year thanks to this.

But yeah, a lot of these channels are crap.
 
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