Cannes: Theft Leads China Film Group VP To Bow Out Of Keanu … 
UPDATE: Yahoo Board OKs $1.1B Deal To Acquire Tumblr … 
Cannes: Sony Classics Wins Stateside Rights To Asghar … 
‘Fast & Furious 6′ Breaks Records In … 
Specialty Box Office: ‘Frances Ha’ Triumphs As … 
‘Saturday Night Live’ Season Finale Posts … 
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ $164.5M Global: Lower … 
Cannes: Backup Media, Memento Bring Heat To Fest Helmer Jim … 
Cannes: Sundance Selects Acquires Dardenne Brothers’ … 
Cannes: Wrekin Hill Acquires U.S. On Gabriele … 
Bill Hader’s ‘SNL’ Stefon Farewell: Video 
Cannes: The Weinstein Co. Books ‘Suite … 
BBC Confirms ‘Doctor Who’ Season 8 
Finally, Cannes Dealing! Radius-TWC Nabs Director’s … 
Hammond On Cannes: Wet Fest’s Official Competition … 
‘Vampire Academy’ Adds ‘Modern … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Shark Tank’ Finale Up, … 
Cannes: Worldview Options Andrew Dominik’s Marilyn … 
UPFRONTS 2013: The Overachievers 
‘Mike & Molly’ Creator Mark Roberts To … 
Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts Set For … 
This is the latest in a series of what Disney calls “comprehensive long-term” agreements that lock in pay TV carriage terms. Like most of the others, the one today with AT&T U-verse covers televisions, computers, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles and internet-enabled televisions. U-verse will offer Disney’s TV Everywhere WATCH streaming services for live and VOD viewing both in and out of the home. The deal covers about 70 services including ESPN 3D, ESPN Goal Line, ESPN Buzzer Beater, the Longhorn Network, Disney Jr and the upcoming news channel from the joint venture matching ABC News and Univision — as well as local signals from WABC, KABC, WLS, KGO, KTRK, WTVD, and KFSN. Disney says that over the last two years it has reached agreements with seven of the 10 largest pay TV distributors. “Our U-verse customers expect access to content when they want it, where they want it, and this renewal gives them more value and access to a variety of live and on demand content in and outside the home,” says AT&T Home Solutions President of Content and Advertising Sales Jeff Weber. The companies didn’t disclose financial terms.
Disney Agrees To Multi-Platform Carriage Deal With AT&T U-verse
AT&T Launches Subscription VOD Service
The phone service calls it AT&T U-verse Screen Pack, and it will cost $5 a month. Like with competitors such as Netflix — and, notably, Verizon’s new Redbox Instant — AT&T will offer unlimited, instant playback on multiple … Read More »
AT&T U-verse Adds Starz’s Streaming Services
The new agreement means that the phone company’s video customers can stream shows on-demand from the Starz-owned channels to which they subscribe. Starz already has a Starz Play and Encore Play deal with Cox but the company’s content is … Read More »
Viacom’s New TV Everywhere Deal With AT&T Doesn’t Include Mobile Devices
Today’s announcement suggests that Viacom is warming to the idea of allowing its shows to appear on TV Everywhere platforms — but still with limits. The deal with AT&T doesn’t extend to mobile devices such as tablets … Read More »
UPDATE: AT&T U-Verse Reaches Deal With AMC; Dish Feud Still Unresolved
UPDATE, 12:07 PM SUNDAY: AT&T announced that it has reached a “a fair distribution agreement with AMC Networks for AMC, IFC, Sundance and WE tv.” The deal reached today will keep AMC Networks available to some 4 million subscribers on U-verse TV. Details were not disclosed. AMC and Dish remain at an impasse and Dish has pulled AMC programming and substituted other content. Here’s AT&T’s statement:
“It was important to us on behalf of our U-verse TV customers to come to a positive resolution as quickly as possible. We appreciate everyone’s willingness to make that happen, working diligently over the weekend, so customers can continue to enjoy the programming they love on U-verse, the fastest growing TV service in the country,” said Jeff Weber, President of Content and Advertising Sales, AT&T.
In a separate statement, AMC Networks took a jab at Dish:
It’s telling that AMC Networks has historically been able to negotiate fair agreements with television providers that reflect the value of our content. Yet DISH, which dropped our networks as of July 1 never engaged with us in any rate discussions. DISH customers have lost some of their favorite shows because of an unrelated lawsuit which has nothing at all to do with our programming, our ratings or our rates.”
Dish Network Tells Subscribers That AMC, IFC, And WE Will Be Gone Tomorrow
This weekend could begin a tough stretch for AMC Networks — and for Dish Network customers who enjoy shows such as Breaking Bad. AMC, IFC, and WE will no longer be available to Dish’s 14.1M customers beginning tomorrow night at 11:59 PM ET when the companies’ carriage contract expires. They aren’t talking, so odds are virtually nil that there’ll be a last-minute settlement. And Dish this morning continued its attack on the independent programmer, saying that it will replace AMC’s channels with what it calls “stronger movie and entertainment content.” Dish will offer HDNet Movies on Channel 130, Style on Channel 128, and HDNet (which is evolving into an entertainment and music channel called AXS.TV) on Channel 131.
Related: Dish Network Kicks AMC Networks Channels To Nosebleed Section Of The Dial
AMC says Dish is using its customers as pawns to pressure the cable networks company to drop a $2.5B breach of contract suit involving the VOOM suite of HD channels. But Dish says it’s sticking up for subscribers by resisting a big price hike for the company behind shows including Mad Men, The Walking Dead, and The Killing. “AMC Networks requires us to carry low-rated channels like IFC and WE to access a few popular AMC shows,” says Dish Read More »
AMC Networks May Go Dark On AT&T U-Verse Too
UPDATE THURSDAY 6 AM: AMC Networks this morning issued a statement about its carriage dispute with AT&T:
We are disappointed that, just days before the July 15 season premiere of AMC’s “Breaking Bad,” we have not yet reached an agreement with AT&T that adequately reflects the popularity of our programming and AMC’s position as a top tier network with acclaimed shows like “The Walking Dead,” basic cable’s highest-rated scripted drama series.
We have been consistently supportive partners of AT&T and are proud that our investment in original programming has provided so much value to all of our distribution partners. We hope AT&T will recognize this and quickly reach a fair agreement with us, so their viewers don’t lose out.
PREVIOUS WEDNESDAY 8 PM: While AMC Networks’ carriage dispute with Dish Network is still raging days before the companies’ current agreement expires June 30, AMC now has another carriage standoff that threatens to take the cable channels off more viewers’ TV sets. AT&T just issued a statement that AMC Networks’ AMC, IFC and We tv may go dark on its U-verse platform when the two sides’ carriage deal expires at 11:59 p.m. EST on June 30. Read More »
Nielsen: Cable Loses 2.9M Subscribers As 1.5M U.S. Households Cut Cord In 2011
For all the talk about cord-cutting in the digital era, movement in that direction is relatively slow, as many viewers switch from cable to satellite or telepone providers rather than drop multichannel service altogether. Nielsen reports that 98% of viewing remained on traditional TV in Q4 2011. Cable lost more than 2.9 million subscribers as viewers switched to telephone or satellite providers. U.S. homes subscribing to cable, satellite or telephone providers for their TV service declined 1.5% or about 1.5 million last year, according to figures Nielsen released this week. Subscribers adding telco (about 1.9 million) or satellite service (roughly 280K) weren’t enough to make up the difference.
Read More »
Starz Strikes Carriage Agreement With AT&T
We may see a lot of announcements like this one as Starz’ online distribution agreement with Netflix approaches its February 28 expiration. The new deal with AT&T expands U-verse’s opportunity to stream Starz programming online. The companies didn’t disclose financial terms.
Dallas, TX and Englewood, Colo. – February 13, 2012 – AT&T and Starz Entertainment, LLC, announced today that the companies agreed to a multi-platform, multi-year extension of the Starz-AT&T U-verse® TV affiliation agreement. The extension covers Starz Entertainment’s premium channels, HD, on-demand, and authenticated online services.
AT&T U-verse TV subscribers enjoy currently 19 Starz Entertainment premium channels and feeds; all 14 distinct STARZ and ENCORE channels (including ENCORE ESPAÑOL), West Coast feeds of the flagship STARZ and ENCORE channels, plus INDIEPLEX, RETROPLEX, and the recently launched MOVIEPLEX.
Cablevision Finally Gives Up MSG Fight After Court Swats Down Appeal
It will be interesting to see whether Cablevision ever discloses how much it spent on legal bills since 2009 to prevent customers of Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-verse from seeing HD feeds of MSG and MSG+. The regional sports channels are owned by Madison Square Garden, a company that’s controled by the Dolan family which also controls Cablevision. Whatever the cost, it seems to have been for naught: Cablevision today threw in the towel in one of the industry’s longest and most baffling battles after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit denied the company’s appeal of an FCC order in September requiring MSG to provide the HD feeds to two of its toughest competitors. FiOS customers in the New York area began to receive the sports channels in HD today; U-verse should have them soon. Read More »
Verizon’s Fight To Offer MSG Networks In HD Goes Into Overtime As Cablevision Files Another Appeal
One of cable’s most irksome long-running battles isn’t over yet: Cablevision is appealing an FCC order that requires MSG — which the cable operator controls — to offer HD feeds of its two New York regional sports channels to Verizon FiOS and AT&T U-verse. That announcement followed a statement from Verizon today saying that it had “a home-team win in overtime” and promising to offer HD versions of MSG and MSG+ in December to FiOS TV customers in all service packages except FiOS TV Local. The HD feeds are a big deal to fans of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, the Buffalo Sabres and the New Jersey Devils.
Cablevision’s appeal continues a dispute that began in 2009 – and that seemed to have reached an end last week. The FCC formally approved a decision from its Media Bureau requiring MSG to deal with FiOS and AT&T, and the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals refused Cablevision’s request to stay the FCC order. But Cablevision says it is returning to the court for a stay while it seeks a review of the FCC’s orders. “We continue to believe that an unbiased review of the data can only result in one conclusion: that there has been no competitive harm to the nation’s two largest phone companies,” Cablevision says. “In a highly competitive marketplace like New York, a forced sharing of offerings only deters companies from investing and innovating, which hurts both fair competition and consumers.” Read More »
UPDATE: DirecTV Renews Deal With AT&T, But Laments Rising Programming Costs Following Strong 3Q
UPDATE, 11:30 AM: DirecTV shares are up 6.3% after it reported better-than-expected sub growth in 3Q — and a three year extension of its deal with AT&T to sell co-branded TV, broadband, and wired and wireless phone services in 22 states. The agreement, which now runs through March 2015, covers areas where AT&T does not offer its U-verse video service. There’s “no material change” in the terms, DirecTV CEO Mike White told analysts in a conference call. He added that it’s “too soon to say” whether DirecTV will offer more bundles with Verizon broadband services. ”The question will be how customer friendly the (Internet usage) caps are.” White says he talks to everybody about packaging broadband service with DirecTV — and that could include Dish Network if it uses the wireless spectrum it’s amassing to sell a wireless Internet service. DirecTV is “thinking Read More »
UPDATE: NHL Network Is Pulled From AT&T U-verse Lineup In Carriage Dispute
UPDATE, 9 PM PT: At midnight ET, The NHL Network went dark on U-verse after AT&T
and the network couldn’t reach a new carriage agreement.
PREVIOUS, 8 PM: AT&T informed its customers that the NHL Network could be removed … Read More »
FCC Ruling Gives Verizon & AT&T Access To MSG’s HD Channels
The FCC today has ruled that a pair of high-definition regional sports channels operated by Madison Square Garden must be offered to Verizon’s FiOS and AT&T’s U-Verse video services. The move comes after the phone companies filed a complaint in July … Read More »
AT&T & Scripps Networks Reach Agreement
After a three-day blackout of Scripps Networks’ cable networks, including HGTV and Food Network, on AT&T U-Verse, the two sides tonight reached a new distribution agreement. The five Scripps channels affected, HGTV, Food Network, DIY, Cooking Channel and Great American Country have been restored in 2.7 million AT&T U-verse … Read More »
AT&T U-Verse Drops Hallmark Channels
The impasse in the negotiations between AT&T U-Verse and Crown Media, the parent company of the Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movie Channel, over a new carriage agreement resulted in the two channels gong dark for 2.3 million … Read More »
Carriage Wars: Rainbow vs AT&T Down To Wire, ABC vs Time Warner Looming
If you are an AT&T U-Verse subscriber, you may lose AMC, IFC and WE tv programming at midnight tonight. Hours before the extension between Cablevision-owned Rainbow Media and AT&T is set to expire, the two sides still appear at … Read More »
-
Marketplace
News/Opinion Poll
Loading ...Box Office Poll
Loading ...