Time Warner Cable Inks 'TV Everywhere' Deal With Viacom

Pact covers full-length episodes from Nick, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Spike and VH1

By Todd Spangler, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 9/10/2012 12:00:03 PM

Time Warner Cable reached a deal with Viacom to provide full-length TV episodes from six networks -- Nick, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Spike and VH1 -- to the cable operator's TV customers over the Internet anywhere in the U.S. on their computers.

Viacom also has TV Everywhere deals with Verizon Communications' FiOS TV and Suddenlink Communications to provide video to their subscribers via its networks' TVE sites, for no additional fee. In addition, Comcast provides Viacom programming to subs through its XfinityTV.com and mobile services. A Viacom spokesman said the Comcast and Suddenlink deals are still in a "trial stage."

"Time Warner Cable continues to bring great entertainment to its customers in every corner of their lives, and Viacom networks are a powerful part of that comprehensive experience that Time Warner Cable customers can count on to enjoy on every screen," Denise Denson, Viacom Media Networks executive vice president of content distribution and marketing, said in a statement.

Terms of the deal between TWC and Viacom were not disclosed.

Last year, Viacom and the cable operator came to legal blows over Time Warner Cable's iPad app for in-home live streaming of the programmer's networks. Viacom sued TWC, arguing that what is now called TWC TV represented unauthorized distribution of its content. The two sides resolved their differences in May 2012.

Currently, Viacom's TV Everywhere sites are available on desktop and laptop computers, not mobile devices. The media programmer is using Adobe Systems' Flash Player to deliver the authenticated video content.

TWC customers can watch episodes from the Viacom networks from any PC in the U.S., after verifying their subscription by using their Time Warner Cable ID to log in to the following Viacom authenticated websites: BET, Comedy Central, MTV, Nick, Spike and VH1.

Episodes currently available on Viacom's TVE sites include those from: Nick's Dora the Explorer, Power Rangers Samurai, iCarly and Victorious; MTV's Teen Mom and Real World: St. Thomas; Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, Tosh.0 and South Park; BET's Baldwin Hills and College and Socially Offensive; VH1's Basketball Wives LA, Mob Wives Chicago and Why Am I Still Single?!; and Spike's 1000 Ways to Die and Deadliest Warrior.