Charter, Viacom to Co-Produce Original Content in Deal

Charter Communications and Viacom will partner on co-production of original content and on advanced advertising, under a multiyear extension of their distribution agreement, they said Wednesday. They said some Viacom networks, including BET, MTV and CMT, will move to Charter's Spectrum Select tier, with others remaining on Spectrum Silver or Spectrum Gold tiers. They said co-produced original content will premiere on Charter's platform in the U.S., with Viacom distributing it internationally and in additional domestic markets after Charter's premiere period. They also said the companies would partner on the use of anonymized viewership data and on tackling unauthorized password sharing.