In a New Years Eve drama that went down to the wire, Viacom and Time Warner Cable reached a retransmission agreement that avoided a blackout that would have prevented more than 13 million U.S. subscribers from seeing Viacom’s programming on Time Warner’s system.
The two sides said in a statement they expected to finalize details of the agreement over the next several days. Viacom wanted Time Warner Cable to pay an extra $35 million to $40 million a year for carrying its cable channels, including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon.
