(2 January 2009 1:50 pm)

MUMBAI: Viacom and Time Warner Cable (TWC) on Thursday jointly announced that they have reached an agreement in principle to renew carriage for Viacom's MTV Networks, which include 19 channels - Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and Vh1, among others.

Earlier, on 31 December, Viacom had threatened to black out its network channels from TWC from 12:01 am on 1 January. In its statement, Viacom had accused TWC of undervaluing its channels for long and had demanded "increase of less than 25 cents per month per subscriber" from TWC.

Both companies said in a release on Thursday that they expect to finalise the details of the agreement over the forthcoming days.

Viacom president and CEO Philippe Dauman said, "We have been partners with Time Warner Cable for a long time, and we are happy to be renewing that partnership for the benefit of their customers and our loyal viewers. It's gratifying that we could reach an agreement that benefits not only our audiences but is also in the best interest of both the companies."

TWC precident and CEO Glenn Britt added, "We are pleased that our customers will continue to be able to watch the programming they enjoy on MTV Networks. We are sorry they had to endure a day of public disagreement as we worked through this negotiation."

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Viacom to black out channels to Time Warner Cable