The Wall Street Journal: Viacom, Charter agree to preliminary deal for basic cable TV package

Media giant Viacom Inc. and cable operator Charter Communications Inc. have agreed to a preliminary deal that would put eight of Viacom’s most important channels in the cheapest package available to the 16.6 million subscribers to Charter’s Spectrum service, according to people familiar with the matter.

Charter carried all 23 of Viacom’s channels in its most affordable tier for years until a few months ago, when it began relegating those networks to a more expensive package for new subscribers.

Viacom

VIA, -0.88%

 , which suffered ratings declines of more than 20% over the past four years, agreed to take a lower rate from Charter than it had previously gotten, the people said.

The agreement is the second major carriage deal that Viacom has inked under Chief Executive Bob Bakish, who took the helm late last year. It reflects his strategy of focusing resources on six core brands — Nickelodeon, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Nick Jr., Paramount Channel — at the expense of many low-rated channels like MTV Classic.

An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com.

Also popular on WSJ.com:

Amazon and big apartment landlords strike deal on package deliveries.

The other brother: Bob Weinstein was an abusive boss.