Viacom, Time Warner fight could kill SpongeBob!
p2pnet news view | Mobiles:- Today’s Outrage: Viacom Bullies Time Warner, says The Street.com. Viacom, Time Warner Cable Battle Over Fees, says CNN Money. Viacom may pull TV networks off Time Warner Cable, says Reuters. Viacom And Time Warner Cable Play Chicken, says paidContent.
Noooooooo!
“What are they thinking, trying to bully Time Warner Cable into paying 22% to 36% more per channel to keep shows like ‘SpongeBob,’ Jon Stewart’s ‘The Daily Show’ and Stephen Colbert’s ‘The Colbert Report’,” says The Street.com.
“Those costs will, of course, be passed on to Time Warner’s 13 million cable subscribers. Just what we all need.”
SpongeBob Squarepants is, of course, second only to Barney the Revolting Purple Dinosaur as the most moronic show on US television, and that’s saying a lot. It would be a priceless service to children and parents everywhere if it were to be harpooned.
Meanwhile, “Under pressure to boost its revenue amid an advertising slump and threats to its business model posed by the rise of the Internet,
Says Reuters, “Among the networks in question are Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV. Viacom said it was seeking a fee increase of less than 25 cents per subscriber per month.”
According to paidContent, Time Warner, “cites online access as a reason not to pay an increase. Spokesman Alex Dudley told the WSJ: ‘They are asking for huge increases and we don’t know how we are supposed to sell this to our customers in this economy. … Their content is no more valuable on the first of January than it is today, especially because they are putting most of their top-rated content on the Web for free’.”
Where do you fit in all of this?
You don’t.
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December 31st, 2008 at 3:09 pm
It just amazes me how stupid these people are seriously can they get any dumber well I guess not. Just what they need to do is raise the cable rates so more people can’t afford it or they look for alternative sources for their entertainment. What they need to do is get their act together and put some control on rates by getting Hollywood to stop paying performers and CEO’s these huge 7-9 figure paychecks.
December 31st, 2008 at 4:02 pm
OMG! For once I’m on the side of the cable company!
Let the channels go dark. Viacom is one of the most vile companies on the face of the Earth. Their “Why is Dora Crying” ad today LIES by claiming that it is Time Warner that is dropping the Viacom channels…not that it is Viacom who is PULLING the channels off! Viacom…filthy, dirty, scum-sucking liars. Millions have already been boycotting Viacom after last Summer’s YouTube debacle. Now, they can kiss 13 million viewers good-bye. Oh yeah, that’s real smart business planning. I wonder what the advertisers will have to say. Now, one can only hope that there is a Viacom shareholder revolt and that the criminally stupid senior management is sent packing.
Good riddance, I say.
December 31st, 2008 at 4:06 pm
I don’t watch Tv all the often unless i know something worth wile is on… But I’m already looking for an alternative to television because my mum is paying a TV license she can’t even afford…forget cable and sky, it’s just as crap as the regular national UK tv channels… BBC1, BBC2, STV, Channel 4 and FIVE…nothing but repeats ads and moronic garbage programs… their still airing black and whit stuff from the 1950’s it’s just a waste of £10 a month….we had both sky and cable, we canceled them both and now I want to just throw out the television all together, it’s just a wast of space and money!
December 31st, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Nahh, reality tv is much more moronic than sponge bob.
December 31st, 2008 at 4:24 pm
jk – how much does she pay?
December 31st, 2008 at 5:04 pm
I’ve read Viacom’s press statement about their plans to pull the MTV/Nickelodeon/Comedy Central networks from the air if Time Warner Cable does not meet their demands for increased fees/revenue. Viacom’s sense of corporate responsibility, trying to lay the blame on Time Warner Cable, is shameful and atrocious. They’ve stated that they expect cable customers to find TWC’s resistance to your demands “outrageous.” No, it is Viacom that I find outrageous. CHARGE THE ADVERTISERS MORE, not the viewer. The consumers and viewers of Viacom’s shows are not commodities with whom they can trade on the value of their company. We should not be the ones who add value to Viacom’s bottom line. Too bad if their sales margins are declining. I for one would rather loose their networks forever than have to pay a higher cable bill. If Viacom can’t agree to TWC’s terms… I say good riddance.
December 31st, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I havent had cable in four months and have not missed anything that i want to watch. The only thing I miss is the various news channels and the random sitcom rerun that I like to watch.
December 31st, 2008 at 7:59 pm
Viacom needs to think of the consumers first – Please don’t pull these channels from Time Warner Cable or Brighthouse Networks!
http://www.floodthelines.com/viacomdontpullchannels/
December 31st, 2008 at 8:17 pm
You know what? You’re way off. Spongebob rules; have you ever watched even an episode? It’s a good show. They’re supposed to be moronic exaggerated parodies of people we meet every day; it’s a cartoon, that’s basically how most cartoons work. It is also more comparable to The Simpsons than it is to Barney the Juvenile Fire Hazard Suit; Barney has only what is obvious on the surface; Spongebob, like The Simpsons, has the plot that the kids see and the simple interactions between the characters that you seem to think should be harpooned. If you are watching as an adult, though, it is a lot more interesting and, also like The Simpsons, contains jokes and references that only older viewers would understand.
So please, before cutting down a show, before claiming that it would be a service to the human race to end it, before assuming that your otherwise loyal and appreciative readership is just going to blindly agree to whatever you say; please watch a few episodes and at least try to understand what the producers are doing.
December 31st, 2008 at 8:58 pm
^^ My daughter (12) and I did try to watch it. We like The Simpons, Arrested Development, Corner Gas, Royal Air Farce, and so on, and we figured SpongeBob must have something.
But we gave up after about 20 minutes. Sorry.
Cheers!
January 1st, 2009 at 10:50 am
As far as I’m concerned if it wasn’t for my girlfriend I wouldn’t even have a TV in my house.I have spent 36 years in radio as a disc Jockey and engineer (I started in 1973 at 16 years old while still in high school so I admit I have a bias toward radio) I think TV is a vast wasteland of garbage aimed at the brain-dead.I guess I’m probably one of the few that still enjoy the “Theater Of The Mind” of radio. So if Viacom wants to become stupidly greedy I say let em in the end it will probably be a good thing for us all.Also I would like to add I have nothing for the cable operators either I think they are bunch of theiving greedy bastards also, so let em all eat shit and die.
January 4th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
I agree with watt. Spongebob has a subtle genius to it. And don’t even get me started on watching it on drugs.