Viacom and satellite TV provider Direct TV announced Friday that they have ended the dispute that cut off access to 17 Viacom channels for DirecTV subscribers.
DirecTV said in a press release that Viacom "has returned all affected networks," while Viacom said that the channels "will return to DIRECTV channel lineup immediately." Despite announcements that they had reconciled their differences, neither company provided details about the deal.
The issue between the companies was centered on how much DirecTV should be charged to carry the channels. Some of the channels affected by the disagreement included MTV, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon.
After the channels were made inaccessible, Viacom later blocked users from viewing full-length episodes on its websites such as MTV.com and ComedyCentral.com. This came after DirecTV informed its U.S. subscribers of other websites that they could use to find programs they were blocked from watching on TV.
As part of the new deal, DirecTV Group subscribers will now be able to view Viacom shows on tablets, laptops and other operating systems using DirecTV's Everywhere platform.
Although the issue is put behind the two companies, DirecTV made it known that it was not pleased by the issue that had occurred in the past week.
"The attention surrounding this unnecessary and ill-advised blackout by Viacom has accomplished one key thing: it serves notice to all media companies that bullying TV providers and their customers with blackouts won't get them a better deal," Derek Chang, executive vice president of content strategy and development for DirecTV, said in a statement.
Viacom on the other hand is more concerned about the future and is glad to let the dispute go, saying in a statement that they were very happy to bring shows back to DirecTV customers and thanked users affected by the quarrel "for their patience and understanding during this challenging period."
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