Dish Network To Renew Its Carriage Contract With Viacom

The uncertainty regarding Dish Viacom agreement is over now. Millions of Dish Network subscribers are quite excited now as the company has renewed its agreement with the carrier Viacom. The renewal of the carriage agreement would mean that there would not be any blackout of the channels offered through Viacom carriage service. Since the contract was renewed in time, there was no service interruption of any sort. Interestingly, the renewal of the carriage agreement has favoured the shares of Viacom in the stock market. In the late afternoon of the day when the agreement was renewed, the shares of Viacom appreciated by 12% in the stock market.

The Dish-Viacom agreement would mean that 18 Viacom channels, it include all genres of channels like MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. As per the new contract, Viacom would receive a slight percentage of increase in its affiliate fees from Dish. This will be increased every five year if the contract is to be renewed for the long run. More details about the terms and conditions in the agreement are yet to be revealed.

As of now, there are about 18 channels offered through the Viacom service. All these channels will be continued in the renewed agreement. Meanwhile, a few channels such as BET, MTV and Comedy Central are to be offered through Dish’s Sling TV streaming service as well. It is not clear whether Viacom will charge Dish Network separately for this.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson from Viacom said that its increase in the carriage fee will be applicable for all the clients. As per the fee increase, Viacom will receive mid-single-digit affiliate fee revenue increases from all its distribution partners from the early 2017. As of now, the existing guidelines that Viacom follow with regard to the carriage charge will expire in September. The said guideline was issued in the month of February. Viacom officials noted that pay-TV business was going through a new phase of change and the pressure on increasing the cost was becoming stronger lately. The reason for this demand to increase the carriage fee is because of the recent hikes in content costs. The numerous options customers have these days for television services is also another challenge that these companies have to deal with.

Dish Network’s decision to renew the deal with Viacom is in fact a boon to the latter. For the last couple of years, the channel ratings of Viacom were on a decline. Reports indicate that the ratings fell for a record low last year. Experts think that the renewal of agreement with Dish Network would certainly boost the channel ratings although there were some confusions and dissatisfaction regarding this from the side of Dish Chief Executive Charlie Ergen.