NBCUniversal is also reportedly in advanced talks about having the NBC broadcast network and other channels join Google’s upcoming virtual MVPD service, Unplugged.
The Comcast-owned programming conglomerate was conspicuously absent from reports earlier in the week that said Google had closed a deal with CBS Corp., and was in talks with 21st Century Fox and Disney.
But according to Deadline Hollywood, NBCU is in “advanced talks,” too, with its Spanish-language broadcast network, Telemundo, also in the mix. NBCU’s portfolio also includes USA, E!, Bravo Syfy, MSNBC, CNBC, and NBC Sports Network.
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Unplugged will reportedly launch in the first quarter of 2017 with a price in the range of $25 to $40 a month.
Google reps have not confirmed any of this, telling FierceCable that they “don’t comment on rumors and speculation.”
Google, which has been trying to get programmers interested in a live streaming service for years, will enter what is becoming a competitive space for virtual MVPD services.
Dish Network’s Sling TV and Sony’s PlayStation Vue both launched last year, with the latter honing in on a million users. AT&T is set to launch live-streamed pay-TV service DirecTV Now later this year with a price point predicted to be in the $50-a-month area. Hulu is also developing a live-streamed service.
For its part, Hulu is reportedly having troubles locking down CBS.
“Hulu has been balking at CBS’s premium pricing terms,” UBS analyst Doug Mitchelson said to Deadline, which added that Hulu is considering launching its live-streaming service without CBS channels.
Notably, AT&T hasn’t locked down CBS for DirecTV Now, and the conglomerate hasn’t signed a deal with Dish Network for Sling TV, either.