Yet another reason to love large media companies, such as the one I work for: Viacom and my own evil overlords, Time Warner, are locked in a subscription-rate dispute that could knock MTV, Comedy Central and every other Viacom channel off Time Warner Cable at midnight tonight. Viacom is running ads and TV messages urging TWC viewers to revolt, while the corporations are in a public dispute over who is killing Dora the Explorer.
As the old African proverb states: When the elephants go to war, the grass loses VH1. Yay, greedy media bastards!
The root of the argument, simplified: Viacom wants more money for itself, whereas Time Warner wants more money for itself. Simple enough? If you want more details, Nikke Finke has them.
Carriage disputes like this are not unheard of: in 2000, TWC blacked out ABC in a dispute with Disney. If the past is any guide, this one will not last too long, but it may be enough to give some already shaky customers reason to consider satellite, or getting their cable fix via Hulu, Joost, Comedy Central online, and so on.
Or just to break out those videogames they got for Christmas and screw TV altogether. What’s your Viacom plan B?