• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 2, 2009

Time Warner Cable and Viacom Thursday said they reached an agreement in principle to renew carriage for Viacom's MTV Networks on Time Warner systems, resolving a stalemate that threatened to cause some of the most popular cable TV networks - including Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and MTV - to go dark in Time Warner Cable subscriber households.

While terms of the deal were not disclosed, the companies said in a joint statement that they expected to finalize them over the next several days.

Viacom had been seeking fee increases amounting to nearly 25 cents per subscriber per month for Time Warner, which it claimed was the equivalent of "less than a penny a day" for the 19 MTV Networks channels currently carried by Time Warner Cable systems.

"We are sorry they had to endure a day of public disagreement as we worked through this negotiation," Time Warner Cable President-CEO Glenn Britt said in a statement.

"It's gratifying that we could reach an agreement that benefits not only our audiences but that is also in the best interest of both of our companies," added Philippe Dauman, president and CEO of Viacom.