Ad taken out by Viacom regarding Time Warner dispute
This appears to be a classic struggle between the provider, who wants more money, and the cable company, who wants to retain more money. The provider side says it will only cost subscribers pennies a month ($0.23 per subscriber per month), the cable company says that they are looking out for the best interests of their subscribers by holding costs down (it’s a 22 to 36% increase).
Typically it’s the innocent bystanders, the people who just want to watch TV, that lose out in these deals. Really though, I can’t see how a cable provider cannot have the Viacom suite in their offering because the channels are such strong brands and really represent what cable TV is from a programming standpoint.
There has been a crawl on Noggin today urging customers to contact Time Warner. The number they are providing is: 1-800-762-3786. Bright House Network customers are also effected and Bright House can be contacted at 1-866-309-3279.
UPDATE 12:28 ET: In fairness, here is the number for Viacom 212-258-6000. Also, Time Warner’s CEO has released a statement.
Time Warner Cable Loses Viacom: MTV, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central To Go Dark
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WHAT???!!! Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, VH1, Spike, Noggin and TV Land are getting taken off Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks? Good, if we had Time Warner Cable or Bright House Networks, I would be really sad, Noggin is one of my favorite channels.