BREAKING: UNHAPPY NEW YEAR! Time Warner Cable To Lose Viacom's MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon...

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

UNHAPPY NEW YEAR! Time Warner Cable To Lose Viacom's MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon & Comedy Central In NY, LA, Everywhere

UPDATE (keep refreshing for breaking news): What an awful way to ring in 2009. It turns out that Viacom claims it has been trying to negotiate a "fair" renewal of its prized cable channels for months and months, but reputedly Time Warner Cable has been unresponsive and "unreasonable" so talks have stalled. The nation's 2nd largest cable system operator, in turn, claims Viacom is asking for "exorbitant" increases in carriage fees which would have to be passed along to the customer. So now this fight between the two Big Media giants will hurt cable viewers. At 12:01 AM on January 1st, just after the ball drops in Time Square, Time Warner Cable's 13.3 million subscribers will lose 19 Viacom channels -- Comedy Central; CMT: Pure Country; Logo; Palladia; MTV; MTV 2; MTV Hits; MTV Jams; MTV Tr3s; Nickelodeon; Noggin; Nick 2; Nicktoons; Spike; The N; TV Land; Vh1; Vh1 Classic; Vh1 Soul. The howling starts here, especially by parents home for the holidays with children who won't have access to their favorite shows like SpongeBob Squarepants and Dora The Explorer, and tweens/teens wanting to see new episodes of those new unreality Reality TV series The City and Bromance, and twentysomethings and older who get their news from The Daily Show With Jon Stewart or The Colbert Report.

This affects all U.S. Time Warner cable subscribers including those in New York and Los Angeles. Alex Dudley, a vice president at Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable operator, is telling reporters that the dispute with Viacom "is that they have asked for an exorbitant increase in their carriage fees and their network ratings are sagging." However, Nickelodeon is 2008’s No. 1 basic cable network, drawing the largest audience in its history. MTV, on the other hand, has seen ratings slide. Time Warner Cable claims it's "trying to hold the line on fees for our customer" -- but it's really worried that if Viacom gets its raises, then every cable programmer will want them. TWC claims Viacom has asked for fee increases of between 22% and 36% per channel, but Sumner Redstone's company maintains the increases would cost less than $.25 a month for the package of channels per subscriber who spend a fifth of total TV time watching Viacom shows but its fees make up less than 2.5% of the Time Warner cable bill. (Sports channels are paid the biggest cable premium). But Time Warner Cable also is complaining that Viacom's popular shows are rerun on Web sites where Viacom collects advertising revenue that it does not share with Time Warner. On the other hand, Viacom has staked much of its revenue-growth prospects on squeezing higher carriage rates out of its cable and satellite affiliates despite an ad slowdown and weaker ratings.

Such negotiation battles between cable networks and cable system operators have happened before and lasted merely hours. In 2004, for example, Viacom's cable channels disappeared from EchoStar's Dish Network for two days while both sides fought over the terms of a new contract. And Time Warner blocked ABC from its cable systems in New York during a breakdown in contract negotiations with parent company Disney. So this one will either end fast or go on forever. It probably will depend on how many subscribers start flooding Time Warner Cable with obscene calls or, worse, switch to satellite. Viacom has already started a hardball campaign to "Call Time Warner Cable and say 'NO' " starring The Hills and South Park.

This is Viacom's just issued statement:

This move by Time Warner Cable to force such channels as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV off the air is another example of a cable company overreaching for profit at the expense of its viewers.

The renewal we are seeking is reasonable and modest relative to the profits TWC enjoys from our networks. We have asked for an increase of less than 25 cents per month, per subscriber, which adds up to less than a penny per day for all 19 of MTV Networks’ channels. We make this request because TWC has so greatly undervalued our channels for so long. Americans spend more than 20% of their TV viewing time watching our networks, yet our fees amount to less than 2.5% of what Time Warner generates from their average customer.

Throughout the country, we have negotiated equitable license agreement renewals, or are in the final stages of renewals, with virtually every cable and satellite carrier. Nevertheless, Time Warner Cable has dismissed our efforts at a fair compromise and has effectively chosen to deny its customers some of the most popular TV shows on the air.

As a result, we are sorry to say that for Time Warner Cable customers our networks will go dark as of 12:01 on January 1st, denying Time Warner customers shows like Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, and The Hills.

Ultimately, however, if Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and the rest of our programming is discontinued – over less than a penny per day - we believe viewers will see this behavior by their cable company as outrageous.

Time Warner Cable subscribers who are being handed a January 1st $3 monthly increase in Raleigh, Orange County, Los Angeles, and New York City are simultaneously facing the removal of beloved shows across 19 channels.

We find it a shame that Time Warner Cable remains unreasonable at this time. We hope its leadership will have a change of heart and will seek to negotiate a fair renewal agreement.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/happy-new-year-time-warner-cable-to-yank-mtv-nickeodeon-comedy-central-off-the-air/

[meegbear]

1. I have TVLand on at 2am ...

and for the first 10 or so minutes, they were running that message on the bottom of the screen. I have Comcast and thought it was odd they were running it. Must be Viacom doing it.

[Corey_Baker08]

2. Time Warner is a bunch of Greedy Asshole With a Monopoly on Most of Ohio......

Serves them greedy price gouging bastards right!!!!

[goclark]

5. I just got rid of Time Worst and I don't miss them one bit

Horrible customer service and high prices.

So far, AT&T is not perfect but I am getting the same services,no more service with the new U-verse and it's $30 cheaper per month.

I love U-verse.

[rcrush]

3. I saw a ticker on Comedy Central just now

Saying call this number to protest. I'm glad I have another cable company. I guess lots of people are going satellite pretty soon.

[Connie_Corleone]

9. I saw it on TV Land at 2am. I was like WTF??

I tried to go satellite, but there's a big ass tree right where the dish is supposed to face. The tree belongs to the city.

I guess I'll wait until U-Verse gets to my area. I'll probably be waiting awhile.

[rcrush]

4. Real easy for Dish companies now to advertise.

"Choose Satellite over cable! We have ALL the channels!"

[Blue_Tires]

6. we must fight this

a whole generation of kids won't get exposed to "You Can't Do That On Television!"

[Renew Deal]

7. A lot of people in NYC can't switch to satellite because they can't mount dishes.

Other options are available, but usually not on a days notice.

[Missy Vixen]

8. We're currently going through something similar with DISH Network

and Fisher Broadcasting in Seattle, WA, which leaves the area with no ABC affiliate. Fisher wanted to raise their per-customer rate 82%. It's amusing when one stops to think that Fisher owns stations that are network affiliates -- their signal is FREE, but they're charging all of us to watch it?

It's long past time Congress stepped in and stopped some of this crap, but how can they do that when they have so many other VERY IMPORTANT issues crowding their schedules, like pay raises? God knows they're not doing anything about the really important stuff, like stopping the war, economic stimulus, unemployment funds running out in multiple states, etcetera...

:sarcasm:
Julie

[JDPriestly]

10. Jon Stewart is on Comedy Central. That is the most important

program for us. We occasionally watch History Channel, animal shows or certain movies, but Jon Stewart is the one we watch the most. We would certainly switch if Time-Warner stops transmitting Comedy Central. So would our children most likely.

[Dennis Donovan]

20. To lose access to TDS and Colbert Report would be catastrophic...

...for me. TWC had better make nice or I'll have to switch to Dish Network or Direct TV - it'll be a necessity.

[RoyGBiv]

11. On being unreasonable ...

Having been in the middle of some of these fights from the inside, I can only advise that placing blame only on Time Warner for being "unreasonable" is unreasonable.

This sort of thing happens all the time with all cable and satellite companies. It's all about one side gaining advantage over the other side, and the consumer will be screwed regardless.

This whole MSNBC being moved to upper-tier channels came out of the same thing. The parent company wanted to quadruple the per-subscriber cost of that channels and wouldn't budge. Eventually the companies just started saying "Okay ... but we're moving it to a digital channel where it is cheaper for us to re-broadcast."

This little game is major reason why your cable rates continually go up.

[Jamastiene]

12. Aw, hell, no!

If I had the upper channels, I'd be on the phone giving them a piece of my mind. I might do it anyhow. My first question to them will be why would I want to pay for standard cable and not get MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon or Comedy Central, specifically Jon Stewart. Why would anyone want to pay for standard cable and not get MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon or Jon Stewart? What else is there on standard cable? Sports and preachers? Fuck that shit. TWC had better get their asses in gear or be prepared to see customers all over this country inundate them with VERY UNHAPPY telephone calls.

[Cash_thatswhatiwant]

21. The channels will be going out at the stroke of midnight I hear. I would be PISSED

if I lost my MTV (I admit I watch MTV and VH1) but esp. TDS and Colbert. Not to mention the Sarah Silverman show which I think is funny.

[SoCalDem]

13. We LOVE Dish.. have never looked back to cable

Dish has EVERYTHING..and we've NEVER lost service..

[kas125]

17. We love Dish, too but because we get Free Speech TV channel. Here

the "signal gets lost" every time it rains, snows, or the wind blows too hard. They'be been out to fex it a couple times and it's not as bad as it once was. But even with the problems, it's still better than Comcast.

[SoCalDem]

18. I love all the university channels & the PBS channels we get

:)

[regnaD kciN]

19. Here in Seattle, Dish just lost KOMO (our ABC affiliate)...

...for the exact same reason as the Viacom/Time-Warner dust-up. :-( It looks like the only way to get all channels is to go with DirectTV and further enrich Rupert Murdoch.

:shrug:

[Swamp Rat]

14. Losing Comedy Central, Animal Planet, and the Travel/History Channels would be a deal-breaker for me

Add to that MSNBC because of Rachel Maddow and Olbermann, and the classic movie channels AMC/TCM.

[aquart]

15. I watch TDS and Colbert online.

[itsrobert]

16. Uh oh, I turned on MTV and they weren't showing Music Videos

They must of took it off all ready!! :sarcasm:

[Trillo]

22. The end of overpriced subscription TV that includes advertising?

Cool.