Late Wed Viacom tweeted, “Due to DIRECTV’s refusal to negotiate productively, we sadly see no immediate end to this blackout in sight.” DirecTV then released a statement blaming Viacom’s alleged insistence that the DBS op carry EPIX “at an additional cost of more than half a billion dollars.” Meanwhile, the blackout of Hearst stations on Time Warner Cable systems also continues, and DISH subs have been without AMC and its siblings for 17 days now. And everyone is trying to get a word in about the spats ahead of Tues’ Sen Commerce hearing.

Also in the July 19 issue of CableFAX Daily:
Atlantic Broadband found a buyer. Canadian cable op Cogeco will pay about $1.36bln (8.3x,13 EBITDA) to enter the US market, snapping up Atlantic systems serving 252K basic customers in PA, MD, DE, SC and Miami.

Hearst stations are showing viewers how to speak up about the blackout. Tactics include walking viewers through Time Warner Cable’s voicemail prompts so that they can get a live person.

USA created its own white label social network solution, Character Chatter, which has surpassed 1mln users. Read about what other programmers are doing.

The Daily

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Wednesday–December 10

WBD-PSKY Latest: Dems Raise National Security Concerns

U.S. Reps. Sam Liccardo (D-CA) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) sent a letter warning Warner Bros. Discovery that a potential merger with Paramount Skydance “raises national security concerns” due to the Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds helping finance PSKY’s $108.4 billion all-cash hostile bid.

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