DAVENPORT - DIRECTV users are wondering where Nickelodeon, MTV, and VH1 are after the satellite provider dumped channels controlled by Viacom Tuesday night.
On 26 channels, a continuous commercial from DIRECTV CEO Mike White explains why the company dumped those channels. Viacom wants to make DIRECTV pay a bit more "pennies per day" to carry its channels. Nonetheless, Davenport resident Mary Robinson is tired of seeing White's message.
"He's just been on all of the channels," Robinson said of White. "This is all about money."
In White's message, he claims DIRECTV has been negotiating with Viacom for months now. DIRECTV does not want to pay for the increase. Thus the reason for the blackout of the channels.
"This is the CEO talking about all the stations we're going to lose from DIRECTV," Robinson explained to News 8 Wednesday.
DIRECTV is not expected to drop the price of bills to its customers even though it's dropped 26 channels for the time being. That has definitely angered Robinson who pays $79 a month for service already.
"By standing firm, DIRECTV can continue to keep your monthly bill as low as possible," White says in the message.
Robinson is now considering dropping DIRECTV because of the loss in channels. She thinks her bill should be less this month because those channels aren't airing.
"Are they going to cut our bill in half for losing all our stations? No," Robinson said. "White doesn't say anything about that."
Nearly 20 million customers have lost access to the 26 channels. White does not expect the blackout to go on for a long period of time. DIRECTV is pleading with its customers to stick with them instead of switching to cable during the blackout.