DirecTV Channels Goes Dark!

Even though it’s only a first-world problem of seemingly epic proportions,  subscribers of DirecTV are really upset. A few minutes before midnight on Tuesday, the dispute between satellite provider DirecTV and mass-media company Viacom led to nearly 20 million customers losing access to 26 channels Viacom owns. DirecTV says that Viacom wants to raise the price of the channels (DirecTV claims Viacom is looking for a 30% bump in royalties for DirecTV to renew its subscriptions–around $1 billion in total), which would in turn create more expensive service for subscribers, saying on a post it hopes to “reach an agreement soon & keep your bill low.” Viacom pulled the plug on 26 DirecTV television channels–including MTV, Comedy Central, BET, and Nickelodeon.