Viacom has stopped streaming full, free episodes of "Jersey Shore," "Teen Mom," "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show" to frustrate a DirecTV tactic in the media giants' escalating dispute.
Media
Countering DirecTV Tactic, Viacom Stops Free Streams for 'Daily Show,' 'Teen Mom'
No More Full, Free Episodes for Anyone
No more streaming complete episodes for free -- for now at least.
DirecTV subscribers lost access to Viacom channels -- which include Nickelodeon, MTV , Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon -- late Tuesday night after the companies failed to reach a new carriage agreement.
When DirecTV told subscribers they could just watch many Viacom shows for free on Viacom networks' own sites, Viacom answered by halting free streaming for anyone -- not just DirecTV customers.
Attempts to access complete episodes of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central's site Wednesday afternoon, for example, produced a message saying full episodes were unavailable.
DirecTV says Viacom is asking for a 30% price hike. Viacom argues that it is the most-watched programmer on DirecTV, accounting for 20% of all its viewing, but is only paid for about 5%.
DirecTV's "Other Ways to Watch" page still lists paid sites where Viacom shows are available, such as Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus and iTunes.
