Comedy Central, Viacom | featured news

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%.

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.

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.

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.