Cablevision, Viacom settle antitrust litigation


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Editor

| 19 October 2015





Running longer than the standard retrans row, the two-year antitrust litigation between US cable firm Cablevision Systems and content giant Viacom has finally been resolved.


The action related to a 2012 carriage agreement which went sour in February 2013 when Cablevision announced that it was suing Viacom for 'illegally' forcing it to carry and pay for 14 ancillary Cablevision channels it said its customers did not want — such as Palladia, MTV Hits and VH1 Classic — as part of a bundle including ones they did, such as Nickelodeon, MTV and Comedy Central. In its action, Cablevision accused Viacom of abuse of market power and coercion by threatening to impose significant penalties unless it complied with the content firms demands.

Now the war of words is over and the two firms say that as they reached their settlement they are simultaneously entering into mutually beneficial business arrangements.

Details of both the settlement and arrangements have yet to be disclosed, but in a statement Viacom said: ""We are pleased to have put these matters behind us in ways that benefit both of our companies and look forward to working together to benefit Cablevision's customers."