Viacom's Programming May Go Dark For Dish Customers As Renewal Talks Break Down

(RTTNews) - Viacom Inc. (VIAB, VIA) said its discussions with satellite-TV provider Dish Network Corp. (DISH ) to renew carriage of its TV channels have broken down, raising the prospect that its programming could go dark for Dish's customers late Wednesday.

"DISH is refusing Viacom's very reasonable renewal terms that would replace our already-expired seven-year deal," Viacom said in a blog post.

The media company, owner of networks such as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and TV Land, accused Dish of making unreasonable demands, despite its offer of a "best-in-class" deal on rates and terms for carriage of its networks.

Viacom said, "DISH customers will hardly be surprised by this behavior - the company has upended 10 renewal negotiations since 2015. This audacious disregard for their customers, who expect to get the networks they signed up for, has unsurprisingly cost the company subscribers... What we need, right now, is for DISH to stop acting as though they have customers to spare and start an honest negotiation with Viacom."