Viacom Inc. and DirecTV Inc. announced a comprehensive carriage agreement Wednesday.
Under terms of the deal, all of Viacom’s MTV Networks’ services currently carried by the direct-broadcast satellite provider -- MTV: Music Television, Nickelodeon, VH1, TV Land, Spike TV, Country Music Television, Noggin, VH1 Classic, MTV2 and Comedy Central -- as well as Black Entertainment Television, will remain available to DirecTV subscribers.
The agreement also covers Viacom-owned CBS analog broadcasts, as well as high-definition broadcasts for the broadcast network’s coverage of Super Bowl XXXVIII and the rest of its HDTV lineup in owned-and-operated markets.
UPN analog broadcasts will remain on DirecTV, as well.
And MTVN’s Nicktoons will be launched to DirecTV "Total Choice Plus" customers.
The deal comes on the heels of a distribution agreement Viacom announced Tuesday with Mediacom
Communications Corp., encompassing the programmer's analog networks, including Comedy Central, as well as its core digital-network package.
In mid-December, Viacom reached a broad-reaching accord with Comcast Corp. covering not only long-term carriage of the cable networks, but retransmission consent for CBS and UPN TV stations. Video-on-demand rights were also part of that pact.
