A trio of streaming announcements plus rumors of more to come are being seen as mounting proof that the television industry is increasingly eyeing alternatives to traditional cable and satellite platforms.
Univision will supply a large amount of content to DirecTV when the company launches an Internet-based streaming TV service aimed at Hispanic audiences later this year, Reuters reported Friday.
The wire service said that DirecTV is in talks with other Spanish-language content providers, but no deals were ready to be announced.
DirecTV’s Hispanic service would kick off what is expected to be a new portfolio of lower-priced niche streaming channel offerings aimed at consumers who don’t want to pay for traditional subscriptions (read: Millennials).
AT&T, whose pending takeover of DirecTV is being reviewed by regulators—is also aiming for a late 2015 launch for an eventual DirecTV/AT&T Broadband bundle, according to Variety.
The package would be aimed at customers in rural areas, and the exact timing of its launch would depend on when the takeover is approved by regulators.
Not one to miss out on the action, Verizon has also said it is getting into the streaming TV game, with their own “virtual MSO” set for launch in mid-2015.
Verizon says the service will “for sure” include the Big Four broadcast networks among its offerings, which will also combine a-la-carte cable and digital media channels.
As for the rumored deals: Disney and Fox might be about to join Viacom in Sony’s cloud. Ad Age is reporting that the two content powerhouses are considering signing on for Sony’s soon-to-launch cloud-based streaming TV service, although no deal is imminent.
Sony and Viacom announced this week that 22 Viacom networks—including MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon—will be available for live and on-demand viewing when Sony’s service launches. A spokesman for ESPN was mum on any deal with Sony, saying the network “remains platform agnostic,” while Fox declined to comment to Ad Age. The New York Times reported separately that Time Warner, Starz, and Discovery Communications are also in talks with Sony.
No launch date has been set yet for the service, which was unveiled earlier this year during CES. Sony needs to secure a robust lineup of programming in order to compete with the traditional cable and pay TV providers.
Read More: Reuters, Variety, Variety (2), Ad Age, The New York Times
Brief Take: Traditional pay TV providers and television networks are increasingly eyeing streaming TV services as a way to future-proof their businesses as larger numbers of young viewers forego purchasing traditional cable and satellite packages.
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