Viacom | featured news

YouTube has once again beaten Viacom in the long-running copyright case that the companies have spent the last several years fighting. This marks the second time U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton has taken YouTube’s side in the case, agreeing that the streaming video provider was protected by “safe harbor” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

Viacom is grappling with declining audiences at MTV and Comedy Central. Comedy Central's prime-time audience fell 19% in the four weeks through Oct. 21, while MTV's viewership declined 32%.

Distributed by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, "Paranormal Activity 4" took in $30.2 million in its first weekend in theaters in North America, a significant drop from the opening haul of the third film in the franchise, which earned $52.6 million.

After a nine-day blackout that denied subscribers access to Nickelodeon, Comedy Central and other channels, the two companies reach agreement on a new long-term deal.

As the dispute between Viacom and DirecTV continued Wednesday, the conglomerate yanked access to some of its more popular programming that was available free on company websites. Fans can no longer watch full episodes of shows like "SpongeBob Squarepants" and "iCarly" or "Jersey Shore" and "The Daily Show," which is sure to further anger the 20 million DirecTV subscribers who continue to find a dark screen when they change the channel to Viacom-owned nets like Nick, MTV, Comedy Central and VH1.

Viacom Inc. said an impasse in contract talks with DirecTV is costing almost 20 million subscribers access to 26 channels, including MTV, Nickelodeon and Comedy Central. DirecTV dropped the channels late Tuesday when two sides couldn’t reach a new fee agreement, New York-based Viacom said in a blog post. There was no word on whether the companies would continue negotiating. “We are hopeful that DirecTV will work with us toward a resolution, and stop denying its subscribers access to the networks they watch most,” Viacom said.

The availability of kids TV shows on Netflix is only a small, contributing factor in the recent ratings challenges of such networks as Viacom's Nickelodeon, Turner Broadcasting System chairman and CEO Phil Kent told an investor conference on Thursday.

A U.S. appeals court has revived lawsuits by Viacom Inc, the English Premier League, and various film studios and television networks accusing Google Inc of allowing copyrighted videos on its YouTube service without permission.

A lawsuit by media giant Viacom against Google over copyrighted videos on YouTube can be heard in court again.

Stephen Colbert's satirical comedy is expected to resume airing new episodes on Monday night, ending an unscheduled hiatus last week, Viacom Inc.'s Comedy Central cable channel said Sunday.