Time Warner/Brighthouse VS Viacom

[Stich8818]

Dont know if this has been posted yet or not...

But apparently tonight at 12:01 that most of the Viacom owned cable stations...Nickelodeon,MTV,VH1, Comedy Central..amungst others are going to dark tonight. Both cable companies will not pay the added increase that Viacom wants to put fourth to carry the signals.

[Marymouse2003]

Thanks for posting. I saw this in wee hours of the a.m. on ticker tape when I was watching MTV. Had different 800 #'s for consumers to call stating they wanted to keep these stations on air. I was in/out of sleep & kept missing the ph#'s. Haven't watched TV yet, will check it out now. Printed your post, so I cld check each channel. Thanks again!

[GBBT]

Yeah,that's a shame.:thedolls: I have TimeWarner and lately they are going up on rates and taking the channels away with the hike.It's time to send in :thedolls:

[Strmchsr]

Yeah, I received an email from Brighthouse this afternoon saying that they're working on it but they're irritated that after declining ratings Viacom is asking for millions more than they previously did and Brighthouse isn't willing to pay it. While I very much enjoy Comedy Central and occasionally Spike, I'm most upset my little one will miss Noggin. I don't blame Brighthouse. It sounds like Viacom is being excessively greedy and thinking too highly of themselves.

[Stich8818]

From Yahoo

Blackout looms as Time Warner, Viacom talks stall
Reuters NEW YORK (Reuters) – Viacom Inc and Time Warner Cable remained at a standoff on Wednesday, but were hopeful that top executives would step in to resolve a dispute that threatens to prevent more than 13 million U.S. subscribers from seeing "Dora the Explorer" and Jon Stewart.

No face-to-face meetings between executives have occurred for several weeks, sources on both sides said. The sources asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to discuss the situation publicly.

At issue is an extra $35 million to $40 million that Viacom wants Time Warner to pay for carrying its cable channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.

Time Warner has refused saying the economic climate makes it impossible to pass along such costs to its customers. Viacom has denied Time Warner's request for an extension of the current terms.

Instead, Viacom threatened to pull its TV networks from Time Warner at midnight on January 1 unless a deal was reached. Viacom also wants Time Warner Cable's Chief Executive Glenn Britt to become more active in the talks, sources said.

Although disagreements between cable carriers and programmers are common, this one is particularly notable given it involves two major companies, threatens top shows, and has prompted a high-profile advertising campaign.

Time Warner is a major outlet for programmers with its 13.3 million video subscribers and presence in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Cleveland.

But Viacom has an equally strong hand. It controls 19 cable TV networks that offer "Dora the Explorer" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" among others.

Viacom has taken its case to the public in an ad campaign.

"Why is Dora crying?" read an advertisement Viacom placed in The New York Times. "Time Warner is taking Dora off the air tonight! Along with 19 of your favorite channels."

HIGH STAKES STANDOFF

Affiliate fees have become even more important as the recession has crimped advertising revenue.

But neither side is well-positioned for a long standoff. Time Warner Cable is about to lose the protection of parent company Time Warner Inc, with a planned split off in early 2009. Viacom, meanwhile, has come under scrutiny as its controlling shareholder, mogul Sumner Redstone, faces his own debt crunch.

"As has been the norm, we would expect a settlement -- terms undisclosed -- in a relatively quick manner, as both sides may not want to see if this battle results in mutually assured destruction, as Viacom loses ad dollars and Time Warner loses subscribers," wrote Bernstein analyst Michael Nathanson.

Viacom is arguing that it deserves more money because viewers spend more than 20 percent of their time with its networks, but its fees amount to less than 2.5 percent of Time Warner's revenues from customers.

"We sympathize with the fact that Viacom`s advertising business is suffering and that their networks` ratings have largely been declining," Time Warner's Britt said in a statement. "However, we can't abide their attempt to make up their lost revenue on the backs of Time Warner Cable customers."

Like other cable and satellite operators, Time Warner has been under pressure from program makers who are keen to increase their fees. Until now, it has largely been broadcasters like CBS Corp who have complained.

Time Warner also needs to keep down its programing costs, the single biggest expense at around $4 billion a year, and faces a slowdown in consumer spending on add-on products like HD digital video recorders.

Viacom, with about 30 percent of its revenue coming from advertising, announced plans to cut about 7 percent of its staff. Its shares were down about 60 percent in 2008.

Part of the share drop can be attributed to worries about Redstone, who has been forced to sell Viacom stock to cope with a debt crunch elsewhere in his media empire, analysts said

[IamBelle]

I don't have these companies, but I saw the black bar on the bottom of my tv and it said you could stop it. So, does anybody know what happened??

[joanna71985]

That really stinks for anyone who lost the stations. :(

[Strmchsr]

They agreed to a 1 hour extension at midnight then signed the deal by 1 am so no channels went black.

[thrillme]

I checked at midnight and I checked today and I still have SpongeBob.

Viacomm says it's only a .25 cent increase per customer per month. I guess everything goes up but it's really getting "tiresome". Time Warner has increased my rates a WHOLE lot more than that over the course of the years.

Where part of me appreciates Time Warner for fighting against increases. Nothing ever stopped them from raising rates before :confused:...There was never a "warning" before either but my automatic payment wasn't "enough". Why'd my rates go up...answer..."Because"...

But...something's different this time. This time I'm on a "contract" to keep my rates down. They can't "add" that increase. Thus it won't cost customers tons of money the increase is going to cost THEM until the customers contracts run out. Once the contracts run out you can bet I'll see a rate increase to include Viacomm's $3.00 as well as an additional perhaps $2.00 for Time Warners profit.

There are OTHER channels other than Viacomm that are also in negotiation. I hope we don't have to go through this again. It was annoying.

I'm tempted to switch to satillite but...We have 4 TV's in the house...I hate having to use those stupid boxes for each TV. It gets expensive and complicates recording issues.