Time Warner Cable and Viacom Inc. reached a deal to avoid the January 1, 2009 blackout. The cable company gets to retain the Viacom shows such as SpongeBob Square Pants and John Stewart, but the cost of this will most likely be passed down to the consumers.

All that WTC spokesman Alex Dudley had to say about it was:

"Those decisions haven't been made yet."

Dudley also underlined the fact that the No. 1 driver of rates is programming costs and for this reason, TWC is negotiating so hard.

The two companies, TWC and Viacom, reached an agreement early Thursday. Under this deal, Time Warner, America’s largest cable provider, keeps airing channels like MTV, Nickelodeon, Noggin and Comedy Central.

Viacom argued that its programs were being “undervalued” and wanted Time Warner to pay 23 cents more a month per customer for its 19 networks. Viacom described the increase as "reasonable and modest” compared to the earnings Time Warner Cable enjoys from Viacom’s networks.

Time Warner pays Viacom about $300 million a year for its programming. This increase of 23 cents per month per subscriber works to a $35.9 million more in total.

However, both sides refused to make public the terms of the deal.

After the deal was reached, Viacom’s stock went up 85 cents to $19.06 a share, while Time Warner Cable's stock fell 31 cents to $21.45.