Sources: Cablevision, Viacom Continue Carriage Talks

Midnight contract expiration looms for 19 networks

By Mike Reynolds, Multichannel News -- Broadcasting & Cable, 12/31/2012 7:07:23 PM

Viacom and Cablevision Systems continued to negotiate on Monday evening, ahead of the midnight expiration of their carriage contract, according to sources.

The current pact covers 19 of the programmer's networks, including Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central.Cablevision and Viacom officials declined to comment on the state of their negotiations.

If the parties don't come to terms, it could result in the second major disconnect this year for Viacom, which this July lost carriage of 26 networks on DirecTV for nine days.

For its part, Cablevision was involved in a dispute with Tribune Broadcasting Co., which pulled its station signals, including WPIX, the New York affiliate of The CW, from the operator for two months. A new retransmission-consent deal was struck in October.