I'm not a customer of the provider, but, looking around my Brooklyn neighborhood, I can tell that lots of folks are, and maybe you're a customer yourself, wherever you reside. And if so, then you probably should be aware of this, if you're not already.

Here’s the official statement from Viacom:

As of midnight on Tuesday, July 10, DirecTV will drop 26 Viacom channels, including Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, VH1, CMT, Spike TV, TV Land and more. Viacom is the most watched programmer on DirecTV. Nickelodeon is the most watched cable network on DirecTV. We regret that DirecTV refuses to consider a fair deal that recognizes the value of Viacom programming. We urge DirecTV customers to call 800-531-5000 or visit www.whendirectvdrops.com and demand that DirecTV put its customers first, and keep Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET and all of Viacom’s channels.

So by this time tomorrow, you all 26 Viacom channels might go dark for you DirecTV customers.

Viacom’s distribution agreement with DirecTV is set to expire today/tonight, and Viacom says that they've been negotiating for months and even offered DirecTV an extension past the agreement’s original June 30th expiration date.

And as recently as yesterday, they say the made "significant economic movement in direct conversations with DirecTV." But DirecTV rejected all of Viacom's proposals to renew their agreement.

DirecTV then provided Viacom with a counter proposal that included a lower rate than Viacom receives from any other distributor in the industry, says Viacom; and with that offer, negotiations have reached an impasse, which means that, as of tonight, nearly 20 million DirecTV subscribers will be without their Viacom channels.

And looking at the list of channels that will go dark, you find lots of *black entertainment*.