AT&T has finalized a wide-reaching program licensing agreement with CBS Corp. for the U-verse service that includes broadcast retransmission consent for CBS owned TV stations, as well as carriage of Showtime Channels, CBS Sports network, Smithsonian and the upcoming Pop channel.
"Ultimately, we both want to provide our customers with the shows they want, when and how they care to watch," CBS said in a statement.
Earlier, unnamed CBS executives told the Wall Street Journal that AT&T (NYSE: T) was "disinterested" in renewing the last deal, which expired June 30, because the U-verse brand is going to be absorbed once AT&T's $49 billion DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV) purchase is finalized.
The executives said AT&T was reluctant to force long-term programming agreements for a video service that might not be around that long.
Neither CBS or AT&T would disclose terms of the new agreement, including duration.
In May 2014, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson told analysts he didn't see DirecTV "displacing our fiber-fed video product in our U-Verse footprint."
Analysts predict that AT&T-DirecTV merger will finally close next week.
For more:
- read this CBS statement
Related links:
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