• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, June 4, 2012

Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos reiterated last week that his company does not believe having Nickelodeon programming on Netflix is contributing to the kids’ network’s declining ratings. At the same time, he said Netflix’s relationship with Viacom, which owns Nick, MTV and Comedy Central, is a strong one.

On Nick, he said: “It’s hard to imagine there isn’t some substitution effect, but if you look at the total hours of viewing of that specific content, you would say that there is no support for a cause and effect of our viewing hours and their ratings.”

Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman has said he doesn’t believe Netflix is having a notable negative impact.

Speaking at an investor event, Sarandos added that Disney Channel content on Netflix is arguably more appealing to visitors and that network’s ratings are solid.  

“We get newer and a higher volume of content from the Disney Channel, [which] is enjoying great ratings,” he said.

He suggested that kids’ programming goes in cycles and once Nick produces a new run of hits, ratings will increase -- even if Netflix viewing goes up.

As for negotiating to offer Viacom content, Sarandos said the company has “been a great partner in every territory figuring out the right content in the right window for the right fee. We’re very artful about how we license our content from them. They’ve been very artful about what they offer to us and everyone has very different agendas.”

Separately, as far as tablet viewing, Sarandos said it is “relatively small” among Netflix viewers, but the company has been working on upgrading the tablet interface.