Hopefully for those of us with TimeWarner, this will get resolved. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081231/ap_on_bi_ge/viacom_time_warner_cable ---------------------------------------------------- 'Colbert,' 'SpongeBob' may go dark on Time Warner By RYAN NAKASHIMA, AP Business Writer Ryan Nakashima, Ap Business Writer LOS ANGELES – "SpongeBob SquarePants" may be getting squeezed off of Time Warner Cable. Media giant Viacom Inc. said its Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and 16 other channels will go dark on Time Warner Cable Inc. at 12:01 a.m. Thursday if a new carriage fee deal is not agreed upon by then. The impasse over carriage fee hikes would mean "SpongeBob" and other shows like "The Daily Show" will be cut off to 13 million subscribers, said spokesman Alex Dudley, a vice president at Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable operator. Viacom has asked for fee increases of between 22 percent and 36 percent per channel, an amount that could increase customers' cable bills, Dudley said. Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew said the requested increase was in the very low double-digit percentage range. "The issue is that they have asked for an exorbitant increase in their carriage fees and their network ratings are sagging," he said. "Basically we're trying to hold the line for our customer." Viacom said the increases would cost an extra 23 cents a month per subscriber — which works out to $35.9 million more in total. It said that Americans spend a fifth of their TV time watching Viacom shows but its fees make up less than 2.5 percent of the Time Warner cable bill. "We make this request because Time Warner Cable has so greatly undervalued our channels for so long," it said. "Ultimately, however, if Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and the rest of our programming is discontinued — over less than a penny per day — we believe viewers will see this behavior by their cable company as outrageous," it said. Tense negotiations are continuing at the highest level, Dudley said. Viacom accused Time Warner Cable of not negotiating. "It is our sincere hope that they will come to the table and negotiate a deal," said McAndrew. The network operator also intends to tell viewers about the dispute in TV ads in 11 major markets. Part of the disagreement is that most of the popular shows are rerun on Web sites where Viacom collects advertising revenue that it does not share with Time Warner, Dudley said. "We don't think that's fair," he said. "They're trying to have their cake and eat it too online, where anybody can get it for free." Viacom has staked much of its revenue-growth prospects on its ability to extract higher carriage rates out of its cable and satellite affiliates despite an ad slowdown and weak ratings. In the third quarter, media network revenue, which accounts for about two-thirds of the total, grew 6 percent to $2.1 billion, despite global ad revenue falling 2 percent, largely because of double-digit percentage growth in affiliate fees and the success of its "Rock Band" video game. Viacom shares rose 69 cents, or 3.7 percent, to close at $19.26 on Tuesday, while Time Warner Cable shares added $1.56, or 7.7 percent, to $21.76. The channels that would be affected are: Comedy Central, CMT: Pure Country, Logo, Palladia, MTV, MTV 2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Tr3s, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick 2, Nicktoons, Spike, The N, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic, and VH1 Soul.
LOL! Come to U-Verse... come to papa... It's going to be sooner or later that AT&T, just like it gobbled up Cingular and other major companies, will gobble up competitors like Time Warner and others. The article says TWC is the second-largest. Which one is larger that's what she said? And, no ima_drummer2k, it's not MY MOM, dude.
Ok, someone tell me why. I've asked this before. Why can't a market have more than one major cable subscriber. Why can't Houston (or your city) have Comcast, Time Warner, Cox, whoever else in a market?
It's like sumo wrestlers. When they begin to fight, only one can be left standing. Think of it that way.
Squatters rights. He who controls the cable wiring system controls the consumers. Who controls me having to use ONLY Time Warner for internet cuz its the only high speed option in the area.
On one hand, I really don't care all that much - I don't watch most of those TV networks - they make up about 3% of my TV viewing experience. OTOH, I am completely pissed at the possibility of losing channels because I feel that will make my TWC bill completely unreasonable and not worth the money since I won't have the option to watch as many channels. At which point, I'll most likely just cut the cable TV off entirely and watch my programming online. (No AT&T U-Verse, SwoLy, I boycott those arseholes - they've screwed me over enough, I'm not giving them any more opportunities!) (Thanks for the reminder, DoD, I need to switch the bills into my name today.)
I was thinking about this. Wouldn't every parent of little kids have to make a switch? I mean Nick (and all its variations) are virtual babysitters to a large part of America, right?
DVD's are your friend. Buy them all the SpongeBob season DVD's and let them watch those. In fact, I have a season one set you can buy off me - never even opened - because my sister had a set already when I bought it for her.
yea have a message scrolling here too about this stuff. i'm not all that affected by it...watch comedy central some...spike a bit for UFC events...but other than that. still time warner is just pissing off their customers.
The only channel I watcho ut of those is Palladia and that's because it's in HD. The rest I could care less about.
I wasn't worried about it at all until I found out that Comedy Central was on the list. TW should pay them what they want. If they have to drop 10 other channels, pay Comedy Central what they want. I need my South Park and Colbert fix, even if I don't watch it very often.
It won't last long, but I applaud Time Warner for this, they are asking for Time Warner to increase people's cable bills to cover for their waning advertising revenues. And Time Warner is saying "NO"....our customers should not be getting an increase becasue some of your programming sucks and can't get ad revenue....and our customers can watch all your shows for free on the internet if they really want to. Good for Time Warner. DD
Out of all of them, I'm most concerned about Comedy Central and Noggin. DaDa...I agree to an extent. Time Warner has been screwing us over time and time again. They keep saying "for the customers." This isn't one channel like when they messed around with LIN tv. This is a bunch and it's going to cost them big time. It's not whether they're right or wrong. It's the fact that they keep getting themselves into this mess and it ultimately screws the customer.
I would be too. My son would go crazy on us if he didn't have Wonderpets. Noggin is showing a crawler on every show today about it. Glad it's not a problem for us, we have U-Verse.
