Viacom Will Pull All 19 Channels (MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, BET, etc) from Time Warner Cable at 12:01AM Jan 1st

Do you want you MTV? Your VH1? Your Nickelodeon? Your Comedy Central?

You can say goodbye to them after midnight tonight, or 9pm in the west, if you watch them on Time Warner Cable.

Viacom Inc on Tuesday said it will pull its cable television networks, including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV, off Time Warner Cable if the companies do not reach a deal on carriage fees by January 1.

In a statement, Viacom said it is seeking a fee increase of less than 25 cents per month per subscriber from the second-largest U.S. cable operator.

Time Warner Cable says it has 13.3 million video subscribers. Its top markets include New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Cleveland.

"Time Warner Cable has dismissed our efforts at a fair compromise," Viacom said in a statement. "As a result, we are sorry to say that for Time Warner Cable customers our networks will go dark as of 12:01 on January 1st. ... We make this request because TWC has so greatly undervalued our channels for so long. 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."

Some of television's most popular shows appear on Viacom's 19 cable TV networks, including "Dora the Explorer," "SpongeBob SquarePants," "The Colbert Report," "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" and "The Hills."

Time Warner Cable spokesman Alex Dudley said Viacom was asking for steep fee increases despite the fact that "ratings are sagging" at most of its networks.

"It just smacks of desperation from a company that is trying to make up for a failing business model on our subscribers' backs, and we're not going to take it," Dudley 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. Time Warner Cable subscribers who are being handed a January 1st $3 monthly increase in Raleigh, Orange County, Los Angeles, and New York City are simultaneously facing the removal of beloved shows across 19 channels," Viacom said.

New York-based Time Warner Cable, which is expected to split from its parent Time Warner Inc next year, faces cost pressure from programmers demanding cash for retransmission fees. Retransmission fees are paid by cable and satellite companies to owners of broadcast signals on cable systems.

As advertising has taken a hit, more broadcasters are demanding cash from cable companies. At the same time, however, cable subscriber growth is slowing as consumers cut back on spending.


Channels affected are:
Comedy Central, Logo, Palladia, MTV, MTV 2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Tr3s, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick 2, Nicktoons, Spike, The N, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic, VH1 Soul and CMT: Pure Country.

UPDATE:
As expcted, the two sides fought down to the wire, however they reached a deal. No further information was released, as the companies have to work out the details.