Viewers likely to see more pay-TV, programmer fights

Viacom TV series — such as Tosh.0, The Daily Show and even Dora the Explorer— aren't playing on DirecTV because the TV programmer and satellite TV service remain in a standoff over broadcast fees. Meanwhile, fans of the AMC TV series Breaking Bad won't be able to watch the debut of the show's fifth season Sunday night on Dish Network if AMC and the satellite TV service don't resolve their own fee skirmish that began July 1. To placate viewers, AMC is streaming the show live online at 10 p.m. ET at AMCTV.com. "We want to give Dish customers an extra week to switch providers so they can enjoy the rest of the season," the network said. Don't expect the relations to get rosier between programmers and pay-TV providers. Networks are looking for increased programming fees from cable, satellite and other pay-TV services to pay for shows and, of course, to boost their revenue. Meanwhile, pay-TV providers have to juggle increased programming fees and flattening growth in the number of pay-TV households. DirecTV, for example, spent about $9.8 billion on programming in 2011, up 12.6% over 2010. Passing programming costs directly to consumers could ignite a wave of subscriber "cord cutting" — dropping pay-TV services — and their turning to Internet video. So far, that hasn't happened in a big way. Pay-TV homes remain stable at 101 million, about 84% of TV homes, according to IHS Screen Digest. But "something has got to give," says Tom Adams, an analyst at the market research firm.