MTV Networks has filed a London High Court suit claiming that its Turkish distributor has failed to pay it for the transmission of both MTV and sister channel Nickelodeon.
The Viacom-owned company says that Multi Channel Developers (MCD), which also represents the BBC, Eurosport and Euronews, has reneged on its agreement and is seeking a court order that would take the local versions of the channels off the air along with unspecified damages.
MCD has represented MTV in the Turkish market since 2005. The channel launched in November 2006, but in May 2010 it abruptly left the Digiturk platform, though remaining on cable and free-to-air satellite. A month later it was reported locally that MTV had cancelled the contract with its distributor.
MCD said that it disputed the claims and had filed a full defence with the court. The company considers it has agreements in place for both Nickelodeon and MTV Turkey.
A spokeswoman for MTV Networks declined to comment.