The legal dispute between Viacom and Cablevision has been resolved, and the big winner is the end user.
Like other cable providers, Cablevision launched an iPad app that allows its customers to stream live TV from the device, as long as they’re connected to their Cablevision Internet service.
Effectively, the live streaming only works when users are inside their home, so it kind of works as just turning the iPad into another TV.
Viacom, however, said that violated the terms of its contract with Cablevision and filed a lawsuit. The TV carrier contended it fell within its agreement with the media company.
Viacom owns several major cable networks including MTV and Comedy Central.
“Neither side is conceding its original legal position,” both companies said in a joint statement, but they have agreed to settle the dispute. The terms of the settlement are unclear, but the end result is that the Cablevision app will continue to stream Viacom content.
Viacom has been extremely aggressive in this world of new media, taking a particularly strong stance against anyone posting copyrighted videos on Youtube or other video sharing sites.
This settlement, though, brings hopes that perhaps Viacom channels will start to be offered more openly. Rival cable operated Time Warner has a similar iPad app and also used to offer Viacom-owned networks as a live streaming option, but just like with Cablevision, Viacom filed a lawsuit against Time Warner.
The Time Warner Cable iPad app continues to have no Viacom TV channels available.
