Viacom and Charter on Wednesday announced a multi-year distribution agreement to put an end to occasionally tense negotiations between the media company and cable operator.
Under the deal, Viacom networks including Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, BET, Spike, TV Land and CMT will be available on Charter’s Spectrum Select tier, while additional networks will go to the higher-cost Silver or Gold packages.
In addition, the companies will jointly produce original content that will debut exclusively on Charter’s U.S. platform prior to broader distribution in domestic and international markets.
On-demand content from Viacom networks can be accessed through set-top boxes as well as each company’s authenticated apps, and the companies will cooperate on efforts to analyze viewer data, combat password sharing and develop advertising.
Viacom and Charter last month agreed to a short-term extension of their previous deal after renewal talks passed the Oct. 15 deadline. Viacom began running message crawls regarding Charter’s “unreasonable” demands ahead of the deadline, but reports indicated that both companies continued to work toward a “mutually beneficial deal.”
Other terms of the agreement, including financial details, were not disclosed.
