MontanaSky to drop Viacom programming rather than raise rates

Citing a price increase in Viacom’s contract renewal, MontanaSky will stop carrying its programming effective Dec. 20, 2017.

“Viacom’s contract renewal demands would have forced MontanaSky to double our current pay television rates over the course of the next five years, a move we found to be unacceptable,” a news release states.

MontanaSky will add new and updated channels without a rate increase in 2018, according to the news release. These will include “direct feeds from local networks, FOX Business, GRIT TV, The Cowboy Channel, Universal Kids, Sportsman, Comedy.tv, GAC, Revolt, INSP, IFC, REELZ, Cooking.tv, ION, Boomerang, Outside.tv, Pets TV, Hallmark Drama, Cars TV and the Olympic Channel.”

The channels that will no longer be available include BET, Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Teen Nick, Nick Jr., MTV, MTV Hits, MTV2, VH1, VH1 Classic Soul, TV Land, Spike TV, Comedy Central, CMT and CMT Pure Country. “Most of those networks are still available through online services such as Hulu, Amazon, iTunes and Netflix, which are all accessible through a MontanaSky internet connection,” the news release states. “Most of Viacom’s programming may also be accessed directly from the individual television channel websites.”

For more information call MontanaSky at 406-293-4335.