Viacom is enlisting beloved characters such as SpongeBob SquarePants and Dora the Explorer in a fee dispute with Time Warner Cable going nuclear.Viacom is threatening to pull all 19 MTV Networks, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central, off Time Warner Cable systems seconds after midnight Jan. 1 unless the cable operator agrees to a hefty fee increase.
Viacom is asking for an increase of 25 cents a month per subscriber, representing what Time Warner described as a 15% increase from the current deal, which expires at midnight.
“We make this request because TWC has so greatly undervalued our channels for so long,” Viacom said in a statement. “Americans spend more than 20% of their TV viewing time watching our networks, yet our fees amount to less than 2.5% of what Time Warner generates from their average customer.”
Time Warner Cable spokesman Alexander Dudley argued that Viacom is asking for an unreasonable increase in a down economy while eroding cable’s exclusivity over distribution by putting shows on the web.