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Time Warner, Viacom Strike Last Minute Deal
5-Jan-2009
Written by: Mic Mell
The deal saves Time Warner customers from a blackout on Viacom stations.
Time Warner and Viacom reached a last minute agreement on broadcasting rights, eluding a blackout on Viacom stations.
Viacom owns some of the biggest TV networks in the youth demographic, including Nickelodeon, MTV, and Comedy Central. A recent dispute between Viacom and cable provider Time Warner had the potential to disrupt Viacom programming for Time Warner customers. The source of the dispute was Viacom's insistence that Time Warner pay a larger fee for the rights to broadcast Viacom's networks.
The dispute seemed to be a little bit extreme, with Viacom threatening to pull all 19 of its channels unless Time Warner paid more for the broadcasting rights. It seems that the content providers have the edge. If the channels go blank, it's the cable companies who get the irate calls, and this happens long before the networks feel the pinch from advertisers.
Another interesting point is that much of Viacom's programming is available free on the Web, a fact that has become more publicly known during this fracas.
While Viacom has won the battle, the war for the attention of viewers continues. Public explosions, such as this one, tend to bring innovative thinking into the mix, and we could see the birth of a la carte programming, where you only buy the channels you want, coming soon.
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