Viacom threatening to pull its channels from Virgin Media in Carriage fee dispute

Viacom threatening to pull its channels from Virgin Media in Carriage fee dispute

Viacom, which owns Channel 5, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, MTV and VH-1 were threatened with a blackout on Virgin Media over the weekend, due to a carriage fee dispute

An on-screen messages appearing to Virgin Media UK customers on numerous channels overnight said the channels were due to be axed at midnight on 31st August 2019.

Channel 5 itself will not be affected, as a commercial public service channel

Channels affected and under threat of removal from Virgin Media are :

5 USA
5 Star
5 Spike
5 Select
Nick
Nick Jr.
Nick Jr. Too
Nicktoons
Comedy Central
Comedy Central Extra
MTV
MTV Music
MTV Rocks
MTV Base
MTV Hits
Club MTV
MTV OMG!
VH-1
Paramount
BET

On a webpage, since removed, Viacom accused Virgin of not offering a fair deal and confirmed it had not asked Virgin for an increase in the fees it receives for its channels.

A Virgin spokesperson was able to confirm that the channels would be remaining on air on Virgin Media, with “constructive” discussions with Viacom continuing.

A similar carriage dispute last year saw the UKTV Group of channels, including Dave, withdrawn from Virgin Media for a few weeks.

This may also affect any IPTV services that use Virgin Media as a source for their streams…