Today's Outrage: Viacom's a Big Bully

Now is not the time to be raising fees for shows when there's a recession going on.

Author:: Glenn Hall
Publish date:: Dec 31, 2008 8:59 AM EST

Somebody tell

Viacom

(VIA) - Get Report

there's a recession going on.

What are they thinking, trying to bully

Time Warner Cable

(TWC)

into

paying 22% to 36% more per channel

to keep shows like

SpongeBob

, Jon Stewart's

The Daily Show

and Stephen Colbert's

The Colbert Report

Those costs will, of course, be passed on to Time Warner's 13 million cable subscribers. Just what we all need.

Full disclosure: I am a Time Warner subscriber and I hate SpongeBob. But I know kids love the bug-eyed sponge guy with the annoying voice, so let's leave him out of this.

Also for the record, I don't think Time Warner cares as much about consumers as it does its own bottom line. It is by no means an innocent victim in all this.

The point is that American consumers can ill afford an increase in costs right now.

Cable TV may seem like a luxury, but since so many consumers are already scaling back their spending, a night at home with the family in front of the tube may be a more cost-effective alternative to going out.

Why does Viacom want to deny us that simple refuge in these dire times?