19 Popular Channels Could Go Black

By Donna Willis
Web Content Coordinator
Published: December 31, 2008

CENTRAL OHIO— Fans of some popular cable entertainment will not have to give up their tv fix now that 2009 is underway.

NBC 4’s Tom Brockman reported with the FAST FACTS.  Time Warner Cable says it’s reached deal with
Viacom to avoid blackout of 19 cable channels.  The agreement came after Viacom, the content provider, began to alert viewers to the potential problem.

Viacom began running crawls at the bottom of those channels Wednesday morning, warning viewers they were going off the air.

Viacom officials have asked for a fee increase of between 22 and 36 percent, which they said would equal $.23 cents a month per subscriber and adds up to nearly $36 million.

Time Warner disagreed with the increase and said it would have to pass the cost along to you, the customer.

“It’s kind of crazy. I’m going to miss some of those channels if they go away,“ Time Warner customer Donald Westenberger said.

Westenberger said he watches Comedy Central nearly every day.
Terms of the agreement have not yet been disclosed.

Viacom justified its request by saying Americans spend a fifth of their time watching Viacom shows, but fees amount to less than 2.5 percent of what Time Warner generates from its average customer..

If an agreement isn’t reached, the channels will go black at 12:01 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009.

Time Warner representatives said they are working to come to an agreement prior to midnight but it’s unclear if that will happen.

Stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com for the latest information in this developing story.
To submit a story idea or news tip, e-mail .

MORE: NBC 4 Local News | Local Crime News
NBC 4 SPORTS: Sports News, Video
NBC 4 POLITICS: Headlines, Interactives & Video