AT&T, Viacom Reach Distribution Deal
October 05 2015 - 9:40AM
Dow Jones News
AT&T Inc. said it reached a multiyear agreement with Viacom
Inc. for the media giant to continue providing programming to
AT&T's U-verse TV and DirecTV U.S. subscribers.
AT&T closed its $49 billion acquisition of DirecTV in July
after more than a year of regulatory review, a combination that
created the largest U.S. pay-television company.
Financial terms of the pact with Viacom weren't provided, but in
its news release Monday, AT&T said the agreement entitles
AT&T's satellite and IPTV platforms to the "best deal in the
industry" for Viacom's TV brands.
Viacom has been facing growing concerns that pay-TV providers
will decide they can do without its bundle of channels, which
include Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV and smaller ones like TV
Land and Spike. Being dropped by cable providers, whose
subscription-fee payments power revenue and profit growth for all
media companies, would be a significant blow for Viacom.
Last year, more than 60 small cable operators covering about 2
million subscribers dropped Viacom's channels, amounting to about
2% of U.S. pay TV households. The question that remained was
whether bigger distributors would do the same.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 05, 2015 09:25 ET (13:25 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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