TWC, Viacom Put iPad Litigation On Hold

Time Warner Cable and Viacom have agreed to suspend their legal tussle over rights to stream programming on iPads, but that doesn't mean MTV or BET will be made available on the devices any time soon.

Both parties have filed papers in New York federal court saying they have reached a so-called standstill agreement, which effectively pulls the matter out of court and now leaves it to the companies to resolve the issue (or not) in another forum.

Both TWC and Viacom declined comment, including whether a resolution is near.

In April, TWC sued Viacom, seeking validation that it has rights to offer Viacom networks on its iPad service, which brings live programming to the devices in the home. TWC claimed its deals with Viacom allow it to distribute programming on any "types of video display devices" in the home, and that it "intentionally obtained" the platform-neutral rights.

Viacom objected and counter-sued, looking for an injunction to prevent the likes of MTV and BET networks from being streamed on the iPad app. Viacom claimed TWC was "unilaterally" altering terms of a contract.

advertisement

advertisement

Perhaps in a gesture of good faith, TWC has kept the Viacom networks off the service.

Networks such as Food Network and HGTV remain available, although executives at parent Scripps have suggested the company should receive added compensation from TWC.

"Currently, the agreement that we have for carriage is limited only to television sets wired to the cable boxes or satellite box and doesn't include the other devices," said CFO Joe NeCastro in May.

Next story loading loading..