If you have DirecTV, you woke up this morning and noticed that VH1, BET, MTV, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and 12 other channels were blacked out. No, it’s not an outage. Instead, what you are dealing with is a rift between DirecTV and Viacom where the two couldn’t agree on new programming fees and now the viewers get to suffer. The feud has to do with finding a price point for DirecTV to retain the rights to Viacom’s programming. However, Viacom has asked for an increase in fees, which DirecTV says could impact the customer. The satellite company countered by stating that they would rather pick and choose the Viacom channels instead of being stuck with some of their lower rated networks. Viacom scoffed at the idea and today 20 million viewers are without some of their favorite channels.

So who is at fault? Well, DirecTV is pointing the finger at Viacom, saying in a statement:

“Programmers like Viacom typically won’t allow anyone to buy their channels individually, but we hope to change that. We currently pay them hundreds of millions of dollars every year already, and if Viacom thinks their networks are worth a billion more, then you have to be able to select what’s most important in your own living room. It’s your money, so you should be able to decide.”

Viacom counters and says that this is all DirecTV’s fault:

“(We) proposed a fair deal that amounted to an increase of only a couple pennies per day, per subscriber, and we remained willing to negotiate that deal right up to this evening’s deadline. However, DirecTV refused to engage in meaningful conversation.”

Now the question is which side will blink first? Either way, viewers are suffering while the two sides battle. Hopefully there will be resolution so you won’t miss the next episode of Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta.

Kidding.

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