Futurama gets canceled a second time, finale to air on September 4th

DNP Futurama gets cancelled a second time, finale to air on September 4 2013

Bad news, everyone. Five years into Futurama's revived presence on Comedy Central, the animated sci-fi series is getting the boot for the second time in its long and tumultuous history. Long-time fans will remember the first series finale ("The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings") on Fox in 2003, the show's brief rerun stint on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, the foray into four direct-to-DVD movies (which were separated into sixteen episodes for its inaugural season on Comedy Central) and its eventual deal with the cable network that brought us South Park and The Daily Show. But even after stunts like playing on our gadget obsessions and coming up with a brand new mathematical theorem, it seems the fine folks over at Planet Express just couldn't slake Viacom's thirst for viewers. So, with a heavy heart, we await the series finale (dubbed "Meanwhile") to air on September 4th. But hey, maybe someone can convince Netflix to give life to yet another brilliant-but-canceled series?

Update: To check out a preview of the show's final season -- to debut on June 19th -- take a peek at the second video after the break.

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Source: Entertainment Weekly

DirecTV and Viacom disagree on their disagreements, standoff continues

Seeing that DirecTV and Viacom can't even agree on the number of channels that have gone off the air (one says 17, the other 26) as a result of their deal expiring last week, it's no surprise that the two are continuing to challenge each other's statements on every element of the negotiations. The latest tiff? DirecTV claims it has "accepted all material terms...including an increase that was more than fair" for the channels that were pulled, but accuses Viacom of trying to force an addition of the Epix channel package at a cost of around half a billion dollars. Viacom, for its part, calls the statement a "complete work of fiction" and accuses DirecTV of creating more obstacles in the way of a compromise. Both point of views are linked below, we figure DirecTV customers will have plenty of time to read them while they're busy not watching the new episodes of Workaholics and Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta until this is resolved.

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DirecTV and Viacom disagree on their disagreements, standoff continues originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 21:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceViacom, DirecTV (Facebook)  | Email this | Comments

Viacom channels disappear from DirecTV after the two companies can’t reach a deal

Viacom channels disappear from DirecTV after the two companies can't reach a deal

As we feared, DirecTV and Viacom didn't work things out and before the clock struck midnight ET, all of the network's feeds went dark for the satellite company's customers. Of course, both sides are throwing barbs with Viacom saying DirecTV was not interested in engaging in "meaningful conversation" and that their last contact was at 11AM. On DirecTV's side, it's claiming it sent proposals but never heard anything back and as such was forced to pull the channels. Viacom has been running ads and notices all day to make sure kids big and little call DirecTV to apply pressure about missing their television shows. DirecTV is firing back with the Kids Mix channel (shown above) that replaces the pulled children's programming and points out content on other stations, and even suggests customers check out sources like Amazon Prime or Netflix to keep watching their shows in the meantime. There's no telling who may blink first, or when, but you can look at each company's statement and hear the sabres rattling for yourself after the break. Any bets as to who will work out a deal first between these two and Dish Network / AMC?

Continue reading Viacom channels disappear from DirecTV after the two companies can't reach a deal

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Viacom channels disappear from DirecTV after the two companies can't reach a deal originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 00:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceViacom, DirecTV Promise  | Email this | Comments

Viacom and Time Warner Cable call truce, TWC TV mobile apps will stream Colbert after all

TWC TV iPad

Good news ahoy if you've liked Time Warner Cable's TWC TV streaming app but were frustrated with content providers pulling channels over licensing rights: the cable giant and Viacom have reached a settlement that will see Viacom's channels return to your Android or iOS gear. Comedy Central, CMT, MTV and other channels will be back in the next several weeks, and the two sides even managed to bury the hatched over "unrelated business matters," according to a joint statement. Just what led to the about-face is being kept secret, although Viacom's tendency to sue over retransmission rights in the digital realm raises the possibility that TWC had to fork over an extra amount. At least now you can watch The Daily Show on your iPad knowing your cable provider and the studio are singing "Kumbaya."

Viacom and Time Warner Cable call truce, TWC TV mobile apps will stream Colbert after all originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 May 2012 16:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceViacom Blog, Time Warner Cable Untangled  | Email this | Comments