ROCK HILL, S.C – ( March 25, 2014 ) – Comporium is in negotiations with Viacom, owner of MTV Networks, to continue offering its channels, but believes the current proposal from Viacom would have costly repercussions for the company’s customers.

“While we are restricted from talking about specific rates, Viacom demanded a rate increase that’s 40 times the rate of inflation,” said Comporium’s Glenn McFadden, executive vice president and COO. “Imagine pulling up to the gas pump and finding that gas has gone from $3.50 a gallon to $6 – overnight. That’s the scale of this large increase. In addition, Viacom may demand we drop their networks if we don’t agree to their proposal.”

McFadden said that Comporium’s video system has numerous channels provided by Viacom on its high definition and standard definition channel line-ups.

“Viacom owns popular networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central,” McFadden added. “But in order to offer these, the cable networks require us to carry networks that are not as well-known, such as MTV2, MTV Hits and VH1 Classic.”

To educate the public on rising programming costs, Comporium has a new web site, TVOnMySide.com(www.TVOnMySide.com). Across the country, networks are substantially increasing their fees to cable companies, which affect customers directly. The fees from these networks account for the bulk of monthly cable bills.

Today’s entertainment marketplace is changing rapidly, and major media companies are consolidating. These mergers allow large programming companies significant leverage over independent cable companies.

“Our goal is to protect our customers from significant programming fee increases,” said McFadden. “We pay programmers, such as Viacom, a fee per channel per month per customer for their programming. When these contracts conclude, we negotiate new agreements and that concludes that business deal. But when a multibillion dollar company such as Viacom demands an unprecedented increase in its monthly fees, we believe it’s our responsibility to take a stand.”

About Comporium
Comporium makes life easier for its residential and commercial customers to access a broad range of communications services, including local telephone, long distance, wireless, digital video, Internet, security, and media services. Please visit Comporium for more information.