Original Article on Gawker

Much-loved Viacom shows such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, SpongeBob Squarepants, iCarly, and Jersey Shore can no longer be viewed online due to the company's ongoing dispute with DirecTV over carriage fees. The beef between DirecTV and Viacom concerns an increase of 30% in carriage fees or over $1 billion. Viacom claims this amounts to only "a couple pennies per day, per subscriber," and says DirecTV has been taking advantage of "way below market rates" for years. "Viacom is now not only holding DirecTV customers hostage, but all online viewers as well," said DirecTV in a statement. "Is this just another underhanded negotiating tactic, or does this mean that Viacom will no longer offer its content free online?" In the past, analy...(read more)