Popular American media multinational Viacom is broiled in a tussle with a well-known Internet service provider over cable bundle issuance.
The problem began in October last year when Viacom failed to come into agreement with local cable TV services provider Suddenlink Communications. As a result, Suddenlink took a stern action of dropping all channels belonging to Viacom from its platform. The genesis of this tussle was Viacom’s demand for Suddenlink to increase its payment but the latter refused.
In taking the decision, Suddenlink stated that the new demands by Viacom were unfounded since their ratings at their networks had gone down significantly. Therefore, they did not see value in doing that. This is the genesis of all the problems that now seem to take a dangerous turn. Viacom has now sought the services of local lobbyists in taking Suddenlink head-on. They have resulted to using public events and advertisements in fighting Suddenlink.
It is understood that Suddenlink did not take the matter lying down and have come out openly to express their displeasure with how the former partner has been behaving. Even as the war of words continues, a lot remains at stake for both sides. One, they all want to safeguard their rights against violation and they are doing that will all the vigor. Secondly, both companies are very keen to ensure their profits don’t fall as a result of the tussle.
One clear thing is that the tussle will leave a very negative implication on the reputation and image of both companies. The more they continue to fight without reaching an amicable solution the more they hurt. One of such effects would be other Internet service providers following in the footsteps of Suddenlink to pull out Viacom channels from their platforms. That would definitely bring a lot of controversy and animosity amongst key market players.