Cablevision Systems, which in September agreed to be purchased by European Telecom giant Altice in a deal worth $17.7 billion, said it has settled its litigation with programmer Viacom. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Cablevision sued Viacom in 2013 in federal court in Manhattan, over the programmer’s requirement that distributors buy packages of its channels as part of its carriage deals. The suit said claimed that Cablevision was forced to purchase 14 lesser watched Viacom channels as part of its most recent carriage deal. Viacom had countered that Cablevision and other operators had the right to purchase channels individually – at an albeit higher price – and was simply trying to renegotiate a months old deal in the courts.i
In a terse statement issued late Friday, Cablevision and Viacom said a settlement had been reached.
“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,” the companies said in a joint statement.
