Cable giant Viacom Inc. is threatening to yank its channels – including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central – from Time Warner Cable Inc. systems at 12:01 a.m. Thursday if the two companies can’t reach an agreement over fees.
If Viacom makes good on its statements, that would mean the blackout of kids’ shows such as “Dora the Explorer” and “SpongeBob SquarePants” as well as Comedy Central’s popular “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report.”
Time Warner Cable, based in New York City, is the franchise provider for much of Albany, N.Y.
Viacom’s announcement stems from a debate it’s having with Time Warner (NYSE: TWC) over carriage fees, the money the cable providers pay to air programming. In a statement, Viacom said it’s asking for a reasonable increase of less than 25 cents per month per subscriber. The company said Americans spend 20 percent of their TV viewing time watching Viacom networks but that Viacom’s fees amount to just 2.5 percent of what Time Warner gets from the average customer.
The company has taken out advertisements in national newspapers in an effort to stir up customers.
Time Warner responded by saying the dispute really stems from Viacom’s slumping ad revenue and that a fee increase would amount to a squeeze on the cable company’s customers.
Viacom (NYSE:VIA.B) channels include MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Comedy Central, Country Music Television, Spike TV, TV Land, Logo and BET.