A break down in negotiations between Viacom and Time Warner Cable will mean customers on Time Warner’s cable network, the second largest in the United States, will no longer be able to view Viacom channels from January 1.
Channels to go from Time Warner include (not everyone has all these to start with) Comedy Central, Logo, BET, Spike, TV Land, Nick at Nite, Nickelodeon, Noggin, The N, Nick Jr., TEENick, MTV, VH1, MTV2, CMT and Palladia.
Viacom claims it has been trying to negotiate a fair renewal of its cable channels for months, but claims Time Warner Cable has been unresponsive and unreasonable. Time Warner claims Viacom is asking for exorbitant increases in carriage fees which would have to be passed along to the customer, reports the Huffington Post.
Who ever is to blame, the net result is the same: if you’re on Time Warner Cable, no Viacom content for you from midnight, January 1, reportedly EST so 9pm December 31 on the West Coast. Around 12.3 million customers will be affected by the dispute.
Viacom though isn’t going out without a scene, running the following ad across its entire network to Time Warner customers.
