DirecTV subscribers may be paying to watch le Tour in “high quality” online next year if Versus and the satellite cable company can’t come to an agreement over per-subscriber fees paid to VS.
According to research firm SNL Kagan, Versus earns about 18¢ per subscriber and is asking for a fair market increase based on its growth to 75 million homes, up from 62 million three years ago.  Besides cycling, Versus broadcasts other sports that some people like to watch, college football among them.
In a statement Versus said: “Since our last deal with DirecTV, Versus has added many marquee properties and has become the fastest-growing sports cable network in the country. Despite this tremendous momentum, we are offering DirecTV the ability to carry Versus the same way it does today at the market price for the network. We continue to talk and are hopeful that we will reach an agreement.”
Versus customers on DirecTV are seeing a crawl saying the channel may no longer be available beginning next Tuesday.
The cabler reupped last year to cover the Tour de France for five more years. Viewership was up 134% in the 18-49 demo from a year ago.
Via Variety
