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When AT&T launches its 100-plus-channel, $35-a-month DirecTV Now streaming service next week, it will apparently be without CBS.
Bloomberg is reporting that negotiations between AT&T and CBS are ongoing but are not likely to result in the new streaming service including the No. 1 broadcast network when it launches at a press event Monday in New York. That will likely leave all of CBS’s broadcast and cable properties — CBS, Showtime, Pop and The CW, which CBS co-owns with Time Warner — out of the new service at launch.
“There are certain channels you need. Not having them may have some impact if it doesn’t stack up to cable,” UBS Group AG analyst John Hodulik told Bloomberg. “On the other hand, it’s a big worry for CBS, because if this takes off, that’s a lost subscriber, which undercuts their pricing power.”
There’s every indication that CBS wants to be onboard cable-killer services like DirecTV Now. CEO Les Moonves said on an earnings call with Wall Street analysts in November 2015 that CBS would be included in “skinny bundle” packages where its per-subscriber revenues would be the same as it is for more traditional bundled TV packages on cable and satellite. Although CBS is not available on Sling TV and is only in a handful of markets for Playstation Vue, the network has has reportedly signed on for Google’s Unplugged service that is targeting an early 2017 launch.
CBS aside, DirecTV Now will be loaded at launch. AT&T has announced that service will include channels from all of the other major network groups, including NBC Universal, Disney, Discovery Networks, AMC Networks, A+E Networks, Turner, Viacom, Scripps Networks and the HBO and STARZ premium channels.
AT&T has said that the new SVOD service will include 100 or more channels for $35 a month but has not yet announced a channel lineup. Given the fact that HBO and STARZ are generally priced as add-ons for bundled TV services and that the numerous cable groups that AT&T has announced have well more than 100 channels, DirecTV Now will likely have a base package for $35 a month plus individual channels or packages of channels available for an additional monthly charge.
AT&T and CBS Digital declined Decider’s requests this morning to confirm that CBS would not be available on DirecTV Now at launch.
Scott Porch writes about the streaming-media industry for Decider and is also a contributing writer for Playboy and Signature. You can follow him on Twitter @ScottPorch.
