LOS ANGELES — There’s no need to cry, Dora.
The programmer Viacom and Time Warner Cable have agreed on compensation that preserves access for the cable system operator’s 15.7 million subscribers to Dora the Explorer’s Nickelodeon network, MTV and 17 other channels.
The two sides, citing disagreement over fee increases, had threatened a damaging blackout at a minute past midnight Thursday that would have cut off shows such as “Dora the Explorer,” “SpongeBob SquarePants” and “The Colbert Report” for Time Warner Cable customers.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Details must still be finalized over the next few days, the companies said.
Viacom had mounted an advertising onslaught warning customers of the possible blackout, taking out ads in major newspapers and websites from The New York Times and featuring a tearful Dora crying and clinging to her monkey pal, Boots.
“Why is Dora crying?” the ad read. “Tonight you will lose Nickelodeon and 18 other channels from your TV.”
It then prompted people to call their cable company to complain.
Glenn Britt, president and chief executive of Time Warner Cable Inc., said Viacom’s demand for a 12 percent increase in fees — an extra $39 million on top of the estimated $300 million it pays Viacom annually — was extortion and outrageous, given the recession.
Viacom countered that the requested increase amounted to an extra $2.76 annually per subscriber.
The latest dispute would have affected about 13.3 million Time Warner Cable subscribers, mainly in New York state, the Carolinas, Ohio, Southern California and Texas; and 2.4 million customers of Bright House Networks in Michigan, Indiana, California, Alabama and Florida. Time Warner Cable also has operations in Gunnison and Telluride.
