Shares of DirecTV (DTV) Head Lower As Viacom (VIAB) Programming Pulled

Shares of DirecTV (NYSE: DTV) are heading lower at the open after the Company and Viacom (Nasdaq: VIAB) fail to agree on programming fees. Viacom's channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon were off the DTV airwaves as of midnight last night.

The disagreement couldn't come at a worse time, as some of Viacom's key programs (SpongeBob and Jersey Shore) were declining on viewship charts.

Nomura Securities analyst, Michael Nathanson, said, "Viacom will need to accept a minimum of at least $0.60 step-up from its current DTV deal in order avoid triggering any potential Most Favored Nation clause with its other existing contracts, in our view. As a base case assumption, this would increase our total domestic affiliate fee revenue growth to 10.5% Y/Y in FY13, 240bps above our current 8% Y/Y estimate."

Shares of VIAB are trading up slightly at the open - $47.08, up $0.22 (+0.47%)

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