Barring an eleventh hour reversal, Time Warner Cable subscribers on Thursday will lose channels such as Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and MTV.

Financial negotiations between the channels’ owner Viacom and Time Warner Cable, the second largest cable operator in the U.S., broke down late last night, and Viacom took the unusual step of taking details of the impasse public.

In a statement Viacom said that it is seeking an increase of less than $0.25 per month, per subscriber, which it said adds up to less than a penny per day for all 19 of MTV Networks’ channels.

Viacom, the largest cable programmer in the country, believes that its current deal with TWC undervalues its programming. (Time Warner Cable Goes Public)

According to Viacom, Americans spend about a fifth of their viewing time watching Viacom’s programs yet its compensation adds up to less than 2.5 percent of Time Warner’s average revenue per customer.

If the companies don’t come to an agreement, shows such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob SquarePants, and The Colbert Report, will go dark starting at midnight on Wednesday.

SNL Kagan senior analyst Derek Baine expects the impasse to end relatively quickly.

“Viacom is too big a programmer for Time Warner to lose and Time Warner is too big a customer for Viacom to lose,” he said in a statement. “The only question is how much pain will be inflicted on Time Warner cable subscribers.”

Viacom has asked for increases averaging 28 percent per channel, which works out to about $36 million. A TWC spokesman called Viacom’s carriage demands exorbitant.

Cable carriage fee negotiations are never easy as technology and consumer taste change, but a big chunk of the problem between TWC and Viacom involves Viacom’s reuse of its content online.