Amid a flurry of revelations made by execs at last week’s annual UBS media and telecom convention was one from CBS Corp. chief Les Moonves, who confirmed his company is indeed in talks with Google over YouTube’s pending virtual pay-TV service.
“We’ve been able to make a deal, as you said with, well we haven’t announced yet, potentially with YouTube,” Moonves said,
RELATED: YouTube signs on CBS, in advanced talks with Fox and Viacom for ‘Unplugged’ pay-TV service
Bloomberg first reported on Google’s “Unplugged” platform, saying the live-streamed skinny bundle will debut next year. Bloomberg also said CBS was in advanced talks to license programming to the streaming service.
In October, CBS reportedly reached a carriage deal with Google that would pay it between the $2 per subscriber its gets from traditional pay-TV operators and the $4.99 a month it charges consumers for SVOD service CBS All Access.
Other media conglomerates, such as Walt Disney Company and 21st Century Fox, are reported to be close to making deals for Unplugged carriage, as well.
CBS is notably absent from virtual MVPD service Sling TV from Dish Network, as well as AT&T’s just-launched DirecTV Now.
RELATED: CBS’ Moonves: ‘I’m assuming we’ll be able to make a deal’ with DirecTV Now
Moonves indicated that a deal with AT&T for DirecTV should happen soon.
“We’re in discussions with DirecTV Now, and I’m assuming we’ll be able to make a deal with them,” Moonves said. “There are some issues that are outstanding … there are some things we’re still fighting for.”