Viacom’s contract with AT&T expires tonight (March 22nd) at Midnight meaning that customers are at risk of losing all programming from 23 Viacom-owned channels including BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, and VH1. This weekend Viacom-owned Nickelodeon will be airing the Kids’ Choice Awards, hosted by DJ Khaled.
The carriage dispute would affect customers with DirecTV, AT&T U-Verse, as well as streaming services DIRECTV NOW and AT&T WatchTV. While the channels were recently removed in their new DIRECTV NOW PLUS and MAX plans, those grandfathered into the existing Live a Little, Just Right, Go Big, and Even More plans include Viacom networks.
Oddly enough, DIRECTV NOW customers started noticing that two new channels, Boomerang and REVOLT, appearing in their channel guide, even if they subscribed to the lowest tier, Live a Little plan. Before today, Boomerang was only available for Even More customers ($85) and REVOLT for those on the Go Big ($75) plan.
| AT&T TV NOW | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “PLUS” | “MAX” | “Live a Little” | “Just Right” | “Go Big” | “Gotta Have It” | ||
| Sign Up | Sign Up | Sign Up | Sign Up | Sign Up | Sign Up | ||
| $54.99 | $79.99 | $59.99 | $74.99 | $84.99 | $94.99 | ||
| Boomerang | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Revolt | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
It seems like this may be a negotiating tactic ahead of the Viacom blackout. The WarnerMedia-owned, Boomerang airs classic Warner Bros. cartoons. REVOLT, the network founded by Sean Combs, is a music-focused network focused on hip-hop entertainment. The two networks could fill in for some of the content lost from Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., MTV, and BET.