Popular cable television channels such as MTV and Comedy Central could go dark in millions of homes across the US at midnight on Wednesday following news that licensing fee talks between Viacom, the channels’ owner, and Time Warner Cable had faltered, with Viacom threatening a programming blackout.

The failed negotiations came amid an advertising campaign by Viacom featuring Dora the Explorer, the star character from the Nickelodeon cartoon, crying and clinging to her pet monkey. The ad asks fans of Viacom programming to call Time Warner Cable and demand that they take action to prevent their favourite shows from going off the air.