News December 31, 2008

Viacom to pull 18 networks from Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks

My son was watching Nickelodeon here at Mom’s house, and there was a strange crawl on the screen.

Note: I didn’t take the video…I found it on YouTube.

I just had to find out more info on it, and write about it. What am I writing about? Well Time Warner Cable, Bright House Networks and Viacom have been unable to negotiate new carriage fees, and on New Years Day — when you may be nursing a hangover and wanting Nickelodeon to help babysit your kids — you may be in for a shock. If the deal isn’t reached, then these 18 networks will be PULLED by Viacom from your line up as of the New Year:

CMT Pure Country
Comedy Central
Logo
MTV
MTV Hits
MTV Jams
MTV2
MTV-Tr3s
Nick at Nite
Nick Too
Nickelodeon
Nicktoons
Noggin
Palladia
Spike
The N
TV Land
VH-1
VH-1 Classic
VH-1 Soul

First, I have a little to say for each side in the deal:

Viacom, by doing this, you’re not endearing yourself to the parents of the many children who watch Nickelodeon. Don’t pull your signal. PLUS all networks see the crawl, including Comcast, which my parents use. Thanks for letting me know Viacom.

Time Warner, I WANT TO PAY THE EXTRA 23 CENTS A MONTH THAT IT WOULD REQUIRE TO KEEP THESE CHANNELS!

Time Warner is trying to keep my cable bill down, but this isn’t that big of a increase, and it’s something I can bear and will bear to have Nickelodeon. Time Warner, thank you for trying to keep my bill down, but this is a stupid reason to let Viacom drop their signal from your Cable Network. This could have been resolved MONTHS ago, if you would have simply asked your customers!

Bright House: The same goes for you!

A lot of you may not be affected by this, but there’s a large amount of people who are. Please call your cable company and let them know that you want these channels, if you’re a subscriber.

Get ready for 2009 with a (de) Motivational poster from Despair.com

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About Joel McLaughlin

View all posts by Joel McLaughlin

Joel is a system admin for a local college in Columbus, OH. While he loves Linux and tends to use it more than anything else, he will stoop to running closed source if it is the best tool for the job. His techno passions are Linux, Android, netbooks, GPS, podcasting and Amateur Radio.

http://www.parityodd.com Chad

humm… Since I dont have kids I can say that the only one that even matters up there is Spike TV. and even that I could live without (i mostly watch reruns on it when nothing else is on) and it's not HIDEF!!! so good riddance to the junk programming they show.

Let the flames fly about the great quality programming offered by the MTV and VH1 stations didn;t they use to actually play music?
FMS NYC

I've read Viacom's press statement about their plans to pull the MTV/Nickelodeon/Comedy Central networks from the air if Time Warner Cable does not meet their demands for increased fees/revenue. Viacom's sense of corporate responsibility, trying to lay the blame on Time Warner Cable, is shameful and atrocious. They've stated that they expect cable customers to find TWC's resistance to your demands "outrageous." No, it is Viacom that I find outrageous. CHARGE THE ADVERTISERS MORE, not the viewer. The consumers and viewers of Viacom's shows are not commodities with whom they can trade on the value of their company. We should not be the ones who add value to Viacom's bottom line. Too bad if their sales margins are declining. I for one would rather loose their networks forever than have to pay a higher cable bill. If Viacom can't agree to TWC's terms… I say good riddance.
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