Viacom and AT & T negotiate to avoid major blackout in programming

Viacom Inc. and AT & T Inc. were continuing negotiations to avoid a programming outage that would leave more than 24 million pay-TV customers without channels such as MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon, after the end of the year. expiration of their previous contract at midnight Friday.

The negotiations focus on the distribution of Viacom networks on AT & T's DirecTV, U-verse and WatchTV services. On Sunday, Viacom channels were still on the air as the parties continued to talk.

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