After dueling for months behind closed doors, Viacom and Dish have brought their beef over feesย out into the open, and popular channels like Comedy Central and MTV may disappear for nearly 14 million of the satellite provider’s customers as a result.
If the channels go dark, which company could be pay a steeper price than just the new fees? Both are taking onย risks, but Viacom may face the harder fightย toward recovery.
The two are battlingย over what’s known as carriage fees, the payments that a distributor like Dish makes to a programmer like Viacom for the right to carry its channels.