Time Warner PR Issues Looming as Moms Want Noggin

Have you heard the news? Time Warner may be dropping dozens of channels, as negotiations with Viacom (MTV, Nick and many others) come to a halt. Viacom is “seeking an increase in affiliate fees of less than 25 cents a month for each subscriber for all 19 of its MTV Networks cable channels.”

Time Warner blames Viacom for setting very high fees. Viacom says the fees are needed. The list of channels being taken off the air, effective Jan 1, are:

• Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite
• MTV
• VH1
• Spike
• TV Land
• Comedy Central
• Noggin
• MTV2
• VH1 Classic
• Logo
• MTV Hits
• MTV Jams
• MTV Tr3s
• Nick Too
• Nicktoons
• The N
• CMT Pure Country
• Palladia
• VH1 Soul

I don’t know who’s right here, but what makes this a PR issue is that thousands of moms are up in arms about losing Noggin, the preschool channel with no commercials, and which features Moose A. Moose as the Noggin guide. (If you are a parent, you’ll understand the need for at least 20 minutes of Noggin and are that Moose is here to help!)

And Moms, like me, are starting to discuss it on social media, asking people to call Time Warner.

But guess what? Time Warner is so flooded with callers, they aren’t taking any calls due to ‘technical difficulties.’ Not a good move, PR wise. Plus they have a recording saying (at least in my Albany, NY area) that the blackout won’t affect our area.

I tried to reach out to Time Warner, via the Internet After hanging online for a live chat rep for 30 minutes, the Time Warner ‘analyst’ gave me the company ‘line’. When I directly asked him if what the real deal is, he said we would be blocked and then promptly ended the chat.

Oh dear. Bad move, especially since I have a complete copy of the chat. I can only imagine what moms really desperate are doing.

Sure, I understand negotiations can be tough. But don’t tick off Moms, Time Warner… Just ask Motrin!