Time Warner and cable changes in your lineup??

[Soapsuds]

LOS ANGELES (AP) — "SpongeBob SquarePants" may be getting squeezed off of Time Warner Cable.

Media giant Viacom Inc. said its Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central and 16 other channels will go dark on Time Warner Cable Inc. at 12:01 a.m. Thursday if a new carriage fee deal is not agreed upon by then.

The impasse over carriage fee hikes would mean "SpongeBob" and other shows like "The Daily Show" will be cut off to 13 million subscribers, said spokesman Alex Dudley, a vice president at Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable operator.

Viacom has asked for fee increases of between 22 percent and 36 percent per channel, an amount that could increase customers' cable bills, Dudley said. Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew said the requested increase was in the very low double-digit percentage range.

"The issue is that they have asked for an exorbitant increase in their carriage fees and their network ratings are sagging," he said. "Basically we're trying to hold the line for our customer."

Viacom said the increases would cost an extra 23 cents a month per subscriber — which works out to $35.9 million more in total. It said that Americans spend a fifth of their TV time watching Viacom shows but its fees make up less than 2.5 percent of the Time Warner cable bill.

"We make this request because Time Warner Cable has so greatly undervalued our channels for so long," it 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," it said.

Tense negotiations are continuing at the highest level, Dudley said.

Viacom accused Time Warner Cable of not negotiating.

"It is our sincere hope that they will come to the table and negotiate a deal," said McAndrew. The network operator also intends to tell viewers about the dispute in TV ads in 11 major markets.

Part of the disagreement is that most of the popular shows are rerun on Web sites where Viacom collects advertising revenue that it does not share with Time Warner, Dudley said.

"We don't think that's fair," he said. "They're trying to have their cake and eat it too online, where anybody can get it for free."

Viacom has staked much of its revenue-growth prospects on its ability to extract higher carriage rates out of its cable and satellite affiliates despite an ad slowdown and weak ratings.

In the third quarter, media network revenue, which accounts for about two-thirds of the total, grew 6 percent to $2.1 billion, despite global ad revenue falling 2 percent, largely because of double-digit percentage growth in affiliate fees and the success of its "Rock Band" video game.

Viacom shares rose 69 cents, or 3.7 percent, to close at $19.26 on Tuesday, while Time Warner Cable shares added $1.56, or 7.7 percent, to $21.76.

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

[jcar03]

I have been watching the I Love Lucy marathon on TV Land and they were scrolling the message across. They haven't been scrolling it in a while, I hope it is because they get tons of complaints about it.

[Soapsuds]

I am so tired of Time Warner and their garbage. I am switching to DirectTV..I cant wait to get it!

[Rakesh]

Good luck. DTV is pure [!@#$%^&*], IMO.

[nell17]

This sucks!!! I can't get Direct TV in my building.

I would really miss VH1 and TVLand

[Scotty]

I have Comcast, which sucks just about as bad. I saw the messages scrolling across those channels, and was no relieved they said Time Warner and not Comcast. But still, it's bad.

I've heard those satellite tv companies can be a pain in the butt....especially Dish Network. But I'm sure DirecTV is bad also.

[aMLCproduction]

TIME WARNER SUCKS REAL GOOD!!!!

[bandbfan]

It seems like this kind of thing happens every few years with one cable company or another. Seems like Viacom is involved a lot. They always reach an agreement though.

[dragonflies]

How is it Time Warner's fault? It's the other idiots. The same thing happened recently when my CW station went off the air(the license for TW to air it was expiring), cause the idiots who owned it wanted an exorbant fee to let Time Warner keep airing it. It finally came back after a month

They must have worked out something cause the scrolling is gone and those channels are still there, and when I call my local Time Warner they did have a message about this but now it's gone

[JackPeyton]

i love my charter cable. never have any issues.

[smadleyb]

yeah, with all we hear about the struggling economy to have double digit percent increases is crazy - especially with the upper tier sequel stations (mtv2, 3, 4, 5 - they all end up being crap reality channels with 29 minutes of commercials every half hour ). but out of that list (Comedy Central, CMT: Pure Country, Logo, Palladia, MTV, MTV 2, MTV Hits, MTV Jams, MTV Tr3s, Nickelodeon, Noggin, Nick 2, Nicktoons, Spike, The N, TV Land, VH1, VH1 Classic, and VH1 Soul.) there are only 2 or 3 I'd even be sorry to see go / or would be willing to take the increase for.

They should just put it to their customers - "do you want to keep this channel and pay extra or dump it?" and let us decide - come to think of it, I'd rather have a cable service that lets me pick and choose my cable line up so I'm not sifting through 150 or more channels to find the dozen or so that I actually watch with any kind of regularity.