Charter Communications and Viacom will reportedly continue their discussions on a carriage renewal deal past their original Sunday deadline.
Reuters, citing a source familiar with the matter, reported that the companies agreed to a short-term extension of the deadline in order to avert an immediate blackout of Viacom channels to Charter customers.
Viacom over the weekend ran message crawls on those channels — including BET, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon and MTV — that told Charter subscribers the cable operator’s demands were “unreasonable,” while Viacom’s offer would result in lower cable bills and more access to Viacom programming.
The source told Reuters both sides were working to “reach a mutually beneficial deal.”