DirecTV the victor in new deal with Viacom

The blackout is over, but the battlefield is forever changed. Media powerhouse Viacom and satellite-TV provider DirecTV reached a new deal yesterday, ending a 10-day standoff that left 20 million customers without popular channels including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central.

Analysts agreed that the new contract was a clear win for DirecTV an unusual outcome in disputes that typically favor the programmer.

“The Viacom-DirecTV dispute may be remembered as a critical turning point in programmer/distributor negotiations. For the first time in memory, it was the distributor that won the public relations war,” Bernstein Research analyst Todd Juenger wrote in a note to clients.

Juenger said that customers usually blame “the company to whom they send the monthly check. Not this time.”

Financial terms weren’t disclosed, but analysts suggested that Viacom settled for a 20-percent rate hike over seven years — in line with payments from other pay-TV distributors.

During the negotiations, DirecTV blasted Viacom for demanding it fork over “more than a 30 percent increase,” which DirecTV said would translate to an extra $1 billion amid a ratings slump. The satellite-TV provider also balked because Viacom’s content is readily available online.

Viacom argued that its shows, such as “SpongeBob Squarepants,” account for 20 percent of DirecTV’s viewing but only 5 percent of its costs.

As part of the deal, DirecTV also won the ability to give its customers access to Viacom programming on tablets, handhelds and other personal devices through DirecTV’s “TV Everywhere” platform. Plus, DirecTV was able to keep carriage of the EPIX movie channel optional.

Earlier this week, DirecTV said Viacom’s demand that it include the movie channel was hindering settlement talks.

kwhitehouse@nypost.com