Sling TV and Dish Network might be involved in a dispute that could see the removal of a number of popular ViacomCBS channels. At the moment, it remains to be seen if there is an issue, although marketing materials have recently surfaced suggesting there is.
Disputes are nothing new in the streaming world and they have actually dictated a lot of headlines over the past couple of years. In fact, both Sling TV and Viacom are also not strangers to disputes with both having had their fair share of blackouts and fallouts with others. Now, it looks like they might be about to collide in the latest dispute.
A Reddit post details that for a brief period today a Sling TV landing page went live explicitly stating there was a dispute between Sling and Viacom – now ViacomCBS. While the landing page (here) now results in a 404 error, the URL points to a “promise” page. These promise pages are often used by streaming services to make announcements like this, while also appealing to the public to take their side during the dispute.
Although the page is no longer visible, the same Reddit user was able to get a screenshot of the banner before it was removed.
This week likely to be crucial
As the banner clearly indicates, the following channels will be at risk if a dispute was to take effect:
- BET
- CMT
- Comedy Central
- Logo
- MTV
- MTV2
- Nick Jr
- Nicktoons
- TeenNick
- Paramount
- TV Land
- VH1
Adding further confirmation to the likelihood of a dispute, a recent SatelliteGuys thread looks to confirm the same issue with Dish Network – the owner of Sling TV.
While the indications do point to an imminent dispute, it is worth noting that’s not a guarantee that the channels will be removed. As is often the case, companies make an announcement (or launch a landing page) before the deadline for a deal is reached simply to place public pressure on the other party. This appears to be what Sling TV was likely preparing for before prematurely making the page live and then removing it again.
Dish Network issued a press release confirming the start of a new multi-year deal with Viacom back on April 21, 2016. Evidently, with that date just around the corner, it is highly likely a new deal will need to be reached by around the same date.
While it remains to be seen if a deal will be reached by then, if a dispute is incoming, then it is highly likely one of these landing pages (Viacom will no doubt have its own) will go live very soon.
