Telewest, Nick confirm "amicable agreement"

Telewest and Nickelodeon have released a joint statement confirming an "amicable" resolve to their lengthy carriage dispute.

As previously reported, the kids broadcaster's bouquet of digital channels were reinstated on Telewest's lineup unexpectedly over the weekend following an absence of almost two months. Furthermore, as part of the new deal, the four stations will be free to all of the operator's customers until the end of March. After this time, Nicktoons will again be available as part of the Essential pack and Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nick Replay and Nicktoons will feature in the Supreme pack.

Eric Tveter, president and chief operating officer at Telewest Broadband,
said of the new agreement: "We are pleased to announce that Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Nicktoons and Nick Replay have been reinstated onto the Telewest Broadband TV platform.

"We have been working hard with Nickelodeon to reach an agreement that meets our drive to deliver value to our customers and also enables Nickelodeon to showcase their channels as widely as possible. We are delighted to have come to an amicable agreement that allows us to continue offering our customers excellent programming at excellent prices."

David Lynn, managing director at Nickelodeon UK, added: "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Telewest Broadband and are delighted that Nickelodeon channels are back on air during the half term holidays. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our viewers for their support and we look forward to bringing them a huge array of exciting new programmes in 2005."

Nickelodeon was removed from Telewest's lineup in mid December after negotiations for a new carriage contract proved fruitless. Nick claimed that Telewest had wanted "extensive changes" to the existing deal but Telewest argued that it needed to keep programming costs "competitive" for its customers.