Cablevision, Viacom Mutually Drop Forced Bundling Legal Fight
Cablevision and Viacom settled out of court their 2-year-old forced bundling legal fight. According to a stipulation of dismissal filed Friday in a U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the two agreed to drop the 2013 lawsuit and counterclaims with each…
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bearing its own costs and attorneys' fees. The companies signed "mutually beneficial business arrangements" and the settlement benefits both companies, they said in a news release. Cablevision sued Viacom for allegedly forcing the cable company to carry ancillary networks in order to obtain such core networks as MTV and Nickelodeon (see 1302280044). Viacom countersued, claiming the two companies' affiliation agreement was "a complete sham" as Cablevision all along had made concessions in negotiations while planning to sue to have the agreement declared void and be released from those concessions.