It happens every three months.  A program provider and cable system can’t agree on fees and take the battle public.  It typically begins with a scroll across the bottom of the screen during the one show you never miss.  You ignore it entirely.  You tell yourself there will be last-minute negotiations and ultimately everyone will walk away equally unhappy but you’ll still get to see Snooki on Thursday night.  Then one day you turn on the TV and suddenly you can no longer rely on Jon Stewart and The Daily Show for your news fix.  You don’t care how many times they warned you, who dropped the signal or what they are fighting over.  All you care about is getting thirty minutes of satirical news delivered each day. 

This scenario recently played out between DirecTV and Viacom but you could easily substitute any television provider and programmer and the situation would be the same.  DirectTVwas trying to avoid a hike in the licensing fees they pay Viacom. Viacom was trying to force DirecTV to carry, and pay for, Epix, another movie channel that consumers haven’t asked for. 

What is interesting is that they are fighting over something  consumers no longer want.  Gone are the days when the number of television stations you have is considered a status symbol.  Everyone has cable… and a dvr, tablet, lap top and smart phone.  Consumers  have unlimited access to information and entertainment.  What they really want is content-specific content. They don’t want 176 channels.  They want the six they watch every day and they are willing to pay a premium for it.

So while the recent battle between DirecTV and Viacom was finally resolved, others will undoubtedly follow.  Ultimately, they’ll all come to mutually unpalatable contracts and Jon Stewart and Snooki will once again be available in your living room.  In this scenario, no one wins they just live to fight another day.  The battle won’t really be over until one of them figures out a cost-effective way to deliver what consumers really want– a la carte programming that allow you to only pay for what you want.  Then everyone else will either follow suit or raise their white flags and admit defeat!

Kathleen Anderson is a Media Director at Travers Collins.