CBS Renews Carriage Deal With Charter

New agreement includes stations, Showtime, CBS Sports Networks and Smithsonian Channel

By Jon Lafayette -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/29/2013 2:43:29 PM

CBS said it renewed its content carriage agreements with Charter Communications.

The deal includes retransmission of CBS' owned stations, plus carriage of its cable properties Showtime Networks, CBS Sports Network and Smithsonian Channel.

The agreement also includes new online and on-demand availability of programming from CBS and Showtime. Charter subscribers will be able to watch CBS primetime shows on demand in the coming months.

Charter customers who subscribe to Showtime will also be able to use Showtime Anytime, which provides unlimited access to programming on computers, iOS and Android mobile devices.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but CBS has been telling Wall Street that its income from retransmission consent is expected to grow and is currently worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

"We are pleased to have reached this comprehensive renewal agreement that recognizes the value our stations and our cable channels bring to Charter and to the audiences we share," Martin Franks, executive VP for planning, policy and government relations at CBS, said in a statement.

"With this agreement, Charter customers can count on us to continue to deliver popular shows and movies from CBS Corporation, and we are especially pleased that the expanded agreement includes CBS Primetime VOD and Showtime Anytime throughout our entire footprint,"  Allan Singer, Charter's senior VP programming said. "Charter is pleased to start 2013 having successfully concluded this enhanced programming agreement."