A la Carte Wars: Cablevision Sues Viacom for Bundling

MSO goes to the mattresses over widespread industry practice

In an apparent bid to set a legal precedent, Cablevision on Tuesday announced that it has filed a lawsuit against Viacom for “bundling,” the practice by which programmers force distributors to carry low-rated channels as a condition of carrying their more popular networks.

“The manner in which Viacom sells its programming is illegal, anti-consumer and wrong,” Cablevision charged in a statement, adding that the parent company of MTV and Nickelodoen “effectively forces Cablevision’s customers to pay for and receive little-watched channels in order to get the channels they actually want.”

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