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Time Warner Cable and Viacom reach deal
December 31st, 2008, 9:54 pm · 11 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
**UPDATE, 1/1/09, 12:10 a.m.** Time Warner Cable releases official statement. See below in bold.
Phew! Miley Cyrus can ring in the 2009 without being shut-off at midnight, thanks to an agreement reached by Time Warner Cable and Viacom Inc., reports the Associated Press.
The MTV special — and programming on Viacom’s 18 other channels — was in danger of getting pulled at midnight for Time Warner’s 13 million customers because earlier negotiations on fee hikes had come to a halt.
With a few hours to spare, the two companies agreed on a contract, thus avoiding Viacom’s threatened blackout. Details of the new contract were not available.
**UPDATE** Just after midnight during the first minutes of the new year, Time Warner notified reporters of the agreement. In a press release, it said that the two companies are still finalizing the details, which could take several days.
Glenn Britt, Time Warner Cable’s president and CEO said, “We are pleased that our customers will continue to be able to watch the programming they enjoy on MTV Networks. We are sorry they had to endure a day of public disagreement as we worked through this negotiation.”
In the same release, Philippe Dauman, President Viacom’s president and CEO said, “We’ve been partners with Time Warner Cable for a long time, and we’re happy to be renewing that partnership for the benefit of their customers and our loyal viewers. It’s gratifying that we could reach an agreement that benefits not only our audiences but that is also in the best interest of both of our companies.”
No further details were offered.
According to the Associated Press report, the two sides first agreed to extend the deadline one hour past midnight before agreeing to a new contract.
Viacom had earlier asked for rate hikes between 22 to 36 percent for various channels. While the increase amounted to 23 cents per month per Time Warner subscriber, the nation’s second largest cable company said the higher fees were outrageous, especially in a down economy. It said it didn’t want to pass the added costs on to customers. Time Warner is already hikng prices in Orange County and Los Angeles in January.
Viacom then launched a very public fight against Time Warner, urging viewers to call the cable company and demand it keep the TV shows on the air. After bitter words between the two companies all day, the two finally came to an agreement.
Earlier:
- If MTV goes dark at midnight, will Viacom offer $819,178 refund? (Dec. 31, 2008)
- No Dora, SpongeBob or Jon Stewart? AT&T U-verse has ‘em (Dec. 31, 2008)
- Time Warner Cable may lose Jon Stewart, MTV, more (Dec. 30, 2008)
- What has Time Warner Cable done for you lately? (Dec. 30, 2008)
- Time Warner Cable raising prices in 2009 (Dec. 29, 2008)
- Time Warner Cable ‘adopts’ O.C. families (Dec. 24, 2008)
- Time Warner’s O.C. phone outage felt in Hawaii (Dec. 23, 2008)
- The weekly Time Warner Cable status report (Dec. 22, 2008)
- Is Time Warner Cable’s Internet outage really fixed? (Dec. 16, 2008)
- Time Warner Cable Internet outage fixed (Dec. 11, 2008)
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TW is worried about .23 cent rate increase, but those hypocrites just recently jacked up their rates to the subscribers over $4.00/mo! ! Now who’s being greedy?!
I want the NFL network.
I can’t stand tw, I switched to Directtv love it, and switched my internet ATT DSL With the internet, I don’t have any problems anymore, thankgod lol. . I’m glad I don’t have to deal with that company anymore. They are greedy and have crappy service, I wish they would go away.
ps, I LOVE HAVING THE NFL NETWORK AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!
If Time warner continues with increasing fees and cutting channels I can assure you that I will be making changes too.
They didn’t just jack up their rates 4.00/mo. They increased their fees on everything. DVR fee, cable fee, cable card fee, remote fee. It’s ridiculous. And the thing that gets me is I have to call them EVERY time I use their on demand feature. I get some error code that nobody knows about and a technician comes out to “fix” it but it happens again as soon as I push that on demand button. Oh and when I call because it won’t work..they put me on hold for 30 minutes so I’m really hot by the time I talk to someone. And if the viacom channels were lost I assure you I would be the first to cancel.
I dumped Time Warner 6 months ago and just now got my check for the credit they owed me after numerous phone calls and dealing with people who think you are stupid. Horrible company to deal with and increasing their rates all the time. Got AT&T U-Verse and love it. Hopefully Time Warner will eventually go down the toilet.
The only thing I would need from them is their High Speed internet otherwise most of the channels available are a waste of time and money. 47 channels or so and nothing on
Ala carte is the way to go imo.
Why don’t all the customers drop their subscriptions of Time Warner and go to a satellite based company? You all need to teach these cable companies a lesson. This is a consumer’s market. A little less TV is good for you all. I’m dropping my cable TV today.
Time Warner may be bad, but the Direct TV contractors cannot figure out how to install their system. I went from three TVs working with Time Warner to one working with Direct TV. They may have a better product, but they need to dip into the three digit IQ bin when they pick their installers. Until they can figure out how to hook up more than one TV, I will suffer through with Time Warner.
TWC is a fraud. Horrible service, horrible customer service and outrageous bills. Yet somehow in their commercials they can still legally say that they are the best and the cheapest. Our bill is $198 a month, and the cable breaks up all the time, sometime the demand channels will actually work, Our phones go out quite often without warning, and they can be out for hours without us even knowing.
We’re trying to get direct TV installed at my new townhome, but the nazis, I mean HOA are being so ridiculous about where the dish can go, that TWC may be our only real option. In any case, I’m glad a deal was made for everyone who has it.
I’ll be watching seasons on DVD and hulu until we get our situation fixed.