Time Warner Cable, Bruised After Its Battle With CBS, Extends Viacom Deal

SpongeBob SquarePants will continue to bubble into homes on Time Warner Cable uninterrupted into the new year.

Time Warner Cable announced that it had reached a multiyear agreement to renew distribution for Viacom, whose networks include MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon. Negotiations over the deal, reached days before the current deal was set to expire on Dec 31, provided a sharp contrast to the bruising battle Time Warner Cable had with CBS last August over the so-called retransmission fees for CBS shows. Terms of the Viacom deal were not disclosed. Tension is increasing between the entertainment companies and the cable outlets, with creators of the entertainment pushing for a higher share of the profits by charging the distributors more in retransmission fees.

[Dec 24]