Viacom And Charter Reach Tentative Deal On New Carriage Agreement

Viacom Inc. and Charter Communications have reached an agreement in principle on a new carriage contract, a deal that will keep Viacom’s networks on Charter’s Spectrum service without disruption. The two companies confirmed the news in a joint statement: “Viacom and Charter have reached an agreement in principle. Spectrum subscribers will continue to have access to Viacom’s networks, without disruption, while we finalize terms.”​

The companies on Sunday night agreed to a “short-term” extension of their carriage negotiations after the expiration of the current deal. Leading up to the deals expiration date, Charter customers were warned of a potential blackout or lockout of Viacom's channels, however, due to the extension, Spectrum’s 16.6 million customers were able to keep watching Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and other Viacom networks as the talks continued.

No terms of the agreement have been disclosed, but it's likely to be viewed as at least a partial victory for Viacom CEO Bob Bakish, who has been engineering a turnaround at the conglomerate since he took over last year.

The impasse follows a recent dispute between Disney and Altice, which acquired Cablevision and now operates the Optimum cable service. Those parties had clashed primarily over sports rights, whereas the issue with Charter and Viacom is the decision last spring by Charter to remove bedrock Viacom channels like MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central from basic service on Spectrum and put them on a higher-priced tier. Along with that move, it rolled out a skinny bundle that features no sports -and no Viacom. Bob Bakish, who became Viacom CEO in 2016, has publicly admonished Charter for the moves, which comes as he sets a new overall strategic course for the company.

Charter acquired Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks last year to become the second biggest cable operator in the United States, giving its Spectrum-branded service roughly 26 million subscribers in about 41 states.

Both sides are under pressure from cord-cutting, or dropping of pay television, as audiences flock to cheaper streaming services that have emerged in the past decade.

Sources: Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline; H/T: Seeking Alpha, @PinkiePie97, @dzonershow.

---

Follow NickALive! on Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, via RSS, on Instagram, and/or Facebook for the latest Nickelodeon and Viacom News and Highlights!