More than 400,000 local cable subscribers were expected to see a blackout of popular television stations such as Nickelodeon and MTV just after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve.

A spat between Time Warner Cable Inc. and Viacom Inc. over how much the cable company pays to carry its channels, including 14 in Hawaii, wasn't expected to be resolved yesterday.

The dispute stems from Viacom's MTV Networks seeking up to four times more in fees from the cable company, despite viewership and sales revenue falling over the past few years, according to Alan Pollock, vice president of marketing for Oceanic Time Warner Cable.

“;We've just put our foot down - this is crazy,”; he said. “;There's tough economic times and our customers can't absorb that because we'd have to pass it along to them. It just so happens that over the last several years Time Warner hasn't been charging our customers the same amount as we have been charged for - we've been absorbing it.”;

Hawaii customers were expected to lose programs by 11:59 p.m., Pollock said in what he described as an unusual circumstance that the cable provider wasn't granted an extension during negotiations. Among the programs that will not be available are “;SpongeBob SquarePants”; and “;Dora the Explorer.”;

“;We've never had a situation where we had been so far away in negotiating pricing,”; Pollock said. “;It's so off the chart they feel they have to play hardball.”;

It is a lose-lose situation all around - especially for customers.

“;I don't know when it will come back,”; he said, adding that the company intends to provide credits to its 400,000 local subscribers, though the amount is to be determined. “;We don't know yet how badly affected we will be.”;

In the meantime, customers can access MTV's popular programs for free on the Internet at hulu.com or the network's Web site.

Some Hawaii TV Channels May Go Blank

 

A contract dispute between Time Warner and Viacom could force Hawaii residents to have more than a dozen channels off air at midnight.

[ Watch ]

 

Time Warner, the nation's second-largest cable operator with 13.3 million subscribers, proposed an increase in what it pays for Viacom's channels, but the offer was rejected as “;a pittance,”; said Viacom spokeswoman Kelly McAndrew. Time Warner Cable primarily serves people in New York state, the Carolinas, Ohio, Southern California and Texas.

Time Warner Chief Executive Glenn Britt on Wednesday called 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 - extortion and outrageous given the recession.

Viacom countered that the requested increase amounted to an extra $2.76 annually per subscriber. In addition, Americans spend a fifth of their TV time watching Viacom shows but its fees make up less than 2.5 percent of the Time Warner cable bill, the company said.

Public carriage fee disputes of this scale between a programmer and a cable operator are not that common, especially when there's a threat of a blackout, said Derek Baine, senior analyst at SNL Kagan in Monterey, Calif. Typically, both sides agree on contract extensions as they negotiate on terms, he said, and any blackouts don't last long because TV operators get calls from outraged customers.