Viacom And Cablevision Agree To Streaming Settlement

Viacom and Cablevision have settled their dispute over streaming media content.

Viacom, which offers MTV, VH1, CMT, Nickelodeon, BET, Comedy Central, and Spike TV, accused Cablevision of using its new iPad app to illegally stream such popular media content.  In a jointly issued statement, the companies announced they “were able to resolve the iPad matter and an unrelated business matter to their mutual satisfaction.”

The lawsuit, filed in June 2011 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleged that Cablevision breached licensing and distribution agreements, infringed Viacom’s intellectual property rights, and engaged in unfair competition.    

According to Viacom’s complaint, on April 2, 2011, Cablevision launched an iPad app that allowed Cablevision to “stream linear feeds of Viacom’s copyrighted entertainment programming through a cable modem to iPad tablets in violation of Viacom’s … rights.”  Viacom sought damages as well as injunctive relief to remedy the allegedly significant and irreparable harm suffered as a result of the unauthorized streaming. 

Although the details of the settlement were not immediately available, Viacom content will continue to be offered on Cablevision’s Optimum Apps for the iPad and similar devices. 

A similar lawsuit brought by Viacom against Time Warner Cable remains pending in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.