Let's Play Who's Greedier!

Around the same time last year, I wrote a blog about MTV possibly going dark. Well Time Warner Cable and Viacom obviously struck a deal, otherwise you would never have experienced the sheer entertainment that "Jersey Shore" has provided us! Anyhow, in '09 it's not Viacom that's threatening, but another media behemoth Fox, which has a multitude of channels including broadcast Fox, FX, AND Fox Sports. They have been very vocal, arguing that because of the changing landscape of many viewers migrating to cable, the precedent of carriers being provided Fox, along with NBC, ABC, and CBS for free, in their eyes is no longer sustainable. They argue that they get deserve higher fees, similar to pay cable nets like TNT - 'it's the new broadcast network'. Fox is pushing to get $1 per subscriber for regular Fox. TWC sees this as unfair and bullyish. Both companies have their moments. Here's some propaganda that both companies are pushing.



And Time Warner with a whole web campaign to combat the new fees, which inevitably might be passed onto the consumer..



Choose your side, I know mine. Fox should take the precedent CBS took earlier in the year when they locked down $0.50 per subscriber. We'll see what happens.

No More MTV?

Well on Time Warner cable at least. Variety reports today that TWC and Viacom are at an impasse in renewal contract talks. So come tomorrow morning, you may not have a 12 hour marathon of Parental Control - oh no, what to do!? Not sure who the bad guy is here, the network that went from music pioneer to a gossip magazine, or the cable carrier that touts "free movie trailers" and has shotty service. The real bad guy is greed, and these two media giants are under that perpetual spell. Good news is MTV has decided to give themselves a massive facelift with a whole new slate of shows, in an effort to seize back some of adults that left when MTV went after Nickelodeon's crop. And to get their ad rev back up. And TWC? Comcast LA was a million times better.