Question by Pierre (formerly Playboy): Viacom/Time Warner Cable dispute?
This is ridiculous.
Read about it here:
LOS ANGELES – “SpongeBob SquarePants” may possibly be acquiring squeezed off of Time Warner Cable.
Media giant Viacom Inc. stated its Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and 16 other channels will go dark for 13 million subscribers at 12:01 a.m. Thursday if a new carriage fee deal with Time Warner Cable is not agreed upon by then.
The impasse would imply “SpongeBob” and other popular shows like Jon Stewart’s “The Everyday Show” and Stephen Colbert’s “The Colbert Report” will be cut off, mentioned spokesman Alex Dudley, a vice president at Time Warner Cable. The nation’s second-largest cable operator mainly serves customers in New York state, the Carolinas, Ohio, Southern California and Texas.
Viacom has asked for fee increases of among 22 percent and 36 percent per channel, an amount that could enhance customers’ cable bills, Dudley stated. Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew said the requested increase was in the quite low double-digit percentage range.
“The situation is that they have asked for an exorbitant enhance in their carriage charges and their network ratings are sagging,” Dudley stated. “Fundamentally we’re attempting to hold the line for our customer.”
Viacom mentioned the increases would price an added 23 cents a month per subscriber — which performs out to $ 35.9 million more in total. It stated that Americans commit a fifth of their Tv time watching Viacom shows but its charges make up much less than two.five percent of the Time Warner cable bill.
“We make this request simply because Time Warner Cable has so greatly undervalued our channels for so long,” it mentioned.
“In the end, nonetheless, if Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and the rest of our programming is discontinued — more than much less than a penny per day — we think viewers will see this behavior by their cable firm as outrageous,” it mentioned.
Negotiations are continuing at the highest level, Dudley stated.
Viacom accused Time Warner Cable of not negotiating.
“It is our sincere hope that they will come to the table and negotiate a deal,” stated McAndrew. The network operator also intends to inform viewers about the dispute in Tv advertisements in 11 main markets.
Part of the disagreement is that most of the well-liked shows are rerun on Web websites exactly where Viacom collects advertising income that it does not share with Time Warner, Dudley said.
“We don’t think that is fair,” he said. “They’re trying to have their cake and consume it too on the internet, exactly where anyone can get it for free of charge.”
Viacom has staked significantly of its revenue-development prospects on its capacity to extract larger carriage prices out of its cable and satellite affiliates despite an ad slowdown and weak ratings.
In the third quarter, media network income, which accounts for about two-thirds of the total, grew 6 percent to $ 2.1 billion, in spite of worldwide ad revenue falling 2 percent, largely simply because of double-digit percentage growth in affiliate charges and the success of its “Rock Band” video game.
Viacom shares rose 69 cents, or three.7 percent, to close at $ 19.26 on Tuesday, whilst Time Warner Cable shares added $ 1.56, or 7.7 percent, to $ 21.76.
The channels that would be affected are: Comedy Central, CMT: Pure Nation, Logo, Palladia, MTV, MTV 2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Tr3s, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick 2, Nicktoons, Spike, The N, Television Land, VH1, VH1 Classic, and VH1 Soul.
Pop-up alerts on “The Colbert Report” and “The Every day Show” Web internet sites Wednesday morning informed fans that Time Warner Cable buyers will shed Comedy Central shows soon and urged them to get in touch with the cable company and protest the modify.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081231/ap_on_bi_ge/viacom_time_warner_cable
^Honestly…18 channels? Can Time Warner genuinely take a hit to their cable company as massive as this? Will the sides reach an agreement by these days? Opinions anybody?
Personally, i believe this is stupid. An extra 23 cents a month or $ two.76 a year is nothing at all. Time Warner just needs to give in already so i can watch South Park, Mind of Mencia, all my reality Television shows and certainly SPONGEBOB!
Very best answer:
Answer by lalalalalallllllllalalalalalala
o no. no a lot more spongebob. i want to kill bush right now.
What do you believe? Answer beneath!
