Visit our sister site:
Follow us on
Headline, Industry News
Time Warner may drop MTV, VH1
Wednesday December 31st 2008Time Warner Cable subscribers may wind up starting the new year without MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1 and other Viacom-owned cablers on their channel lineup.
Viacom late Tuesday issued a lengthy statement warning that channels may be dropped as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday because of a contract wrangle with Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second-largest cable operator. Time Warner Cable serves 14.7 million subscribers in major markets including New York and Los Angeles.
A Time Warner Cable spokeswoman said the two companies were continuing to negotiate and that Viacom had refused to grant an extension that would prevent the channels from going dark on New Year’s Day.
Viacom said it is seeking modest fee hikes that would amount to less than 25 cents per subscriber per month for a three-year carriage agreement covering 19 of its 20 cablers. (Viacom’s BET is covered by a separate contract.) Viacom emphasized that it has recently cut renewal deals with numerous other cable operators, but months of talks with TWC brass have led to an impasse between the media giants.
Viacom called the situation “another example of a cable company overreaching for profit at the expense of its viewers.” TWC spokeswoman Robyn Watson countered that Viacom was seeking to triple the fees that TWC currently pays for the channels, which “would force our customers to foot the bill on that.”
Sources familiar with the situation noted that Viacom’s MTV Networks wing has been pressing hard for higher subscriber fees in its recent renewal negotiations with cable operators, in part because in past years Viacom has been willing to horse trade carriage for distribution commitments for new channels. But amid the general economic slump and the downturn in Viacom’s advertising revenue, the company is pressing for coin rather than additional real estate on the cable dial.
In addition to Gotham and L.A., TWC has a big cable footprint in Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin and South Carolina.
Source: Variety
Headline, Industry News
Time Warner may drop MTV, VH1
Wednesday December 31st 2008Time Warner Cable subscribers may wind up starting the new year without MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1 and other Viacom-owned cablers on their channel lineup.
Viacom late Tuesday issued a lengthy statement warning that channels may be dropped as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday because of a contract wrangle with Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second-largest cable operator. Time Warner Cable serves 14.7 million subscribers in major markets including New York and Los Angeles.
A Time Warner Cable spokeswoman said the two companies were continuing to negotiate and that Viacom had refused to grant an extension that would prevent the channels from going dark on New Year’s Day.
Viacom said it is seeking modest fee hikes that would amount to less than 25 cents per subscriber per month for a three-year carriage agreement covering 19 of its 20 cablers. (Viacom’s BET is covered by a separate contract.) Viacom emphasized that it has recently cut renewal deals with numerous other cable operators, but months of talks with TWC brass have led to an impasse between the media giants.
Viacom called the situation “another example of a cable company overreaching for profit at the expense of its viewers.” TWC spokeswoman Robyn Watson countered that Viacom was seeking to triple the fees that TWC currently pays for the channels, which “would force our customers to foot the bill on that.”
Sources familiar with the situation noted that Viacom’s MTV Networks wing has been pressing hard for higher subscriber fees in its recent renewal negotiations with cable operators, in part because in past years Viacom has been willing to horse trade carriage for distribution commitments for new channels. But amid the general economic slump and the downturn in Viacom’s advertising revenue, the company is pressing for coin rather than additional real estate on the cable dial.
In addition to Gotham and L.A., TWC has a big cable footprint in Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin and South Carolina.
Source: Variety
Leave a Reply
Headline, Industry News
Time Warner may drop MTV, VH1
Wednesday December 31st 2008Time Warner Cable subscribers may wind up starting the new year without MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, VH1 and other Viacom-owned cablers on their channel lineup.
Viacom late Tuesday issued a lengthy statement warning that channels may be dropped as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday because of a contract wrangle with Time Warner Cable, the nation’s second-largest cable operator. Time Warner Cable serves 14.7 million subscribers in major markets including New York and Los Angeles.
A Time Warner Cable spokeswoman said the two companies were continuing to negotiate and that Viacom had refused to grant an extension that would prevent the channels from going dark on New Year’s Day.
Viacom said it is seeking modest fee hikes that would amount to less than 25 cents per subscriber per month for a three-year carriage agreement covering 19 of its 20 cablers. (Viacom’s BET is covered by a separate contract.) Viacom emphasized that it has recently cut renewal deals with numerous other cable operators, but months of talks with TWC brass have led to an impasse between the media giants.
Viacom called the situation “another example of a cable company overreaching for profit at the expense of its viewers.” TWC spokeswoman Robyn Watson countered that Viacom was seeking to triple the fees that TWC currently pays for the channels, which “would force our customers to foot the bill on that.”
Sources familiar with the situation noted that Viacom’s MTV Networks wing has been pressing hard for higher subscriber fees in its recent renewal negotiations with cable operators, in part because in past years Viacom has been willing to horse trade carriage for distribution commitments for new channels. But amid the general economic slump and the downturn in Viacom’s advertising revenue, the company is pressing for coin rather than additional real estate on the cable dial.
In addition to Gotham and L.A., TWC has a big cable footprint in Ohio, Texas, Wisconsin and South Carolina.
Source: Variety
Leave a Reply
Advertisements
