AT&T’s DirecTV Now
At the UBS Global Media and Communications conference, CBS CEO Les Moonves said, “I’m assuming we’ll be able to make a deal with them.” He was commenting on the recently released online streaming platform, DirecTV Now. “As they said in The Godfather, ‘We are not unreasonable people here’,“ he added.
AT&T’s DirecTV Now was highly successful in acquiring the rights of many major broadcasting networks in order to air their contents on the streaming platform. Even though AT&T failed to acquire the rights for CBS Network, it did not stop the Telco giant from launching DirecTV Now. And now, reports indicate that the two companies are trying to reach a settlement.
Moonves said, “[DirecTV Now] is obviously something they’re going to lose money on initially. There’s no way it can last a whole long time at $35 for 80 channels.” He added that the companies discussed many things other than the “economic factors” during the negotiations.
At present, DirecTV Now subscribers who wish to access popular channels such as Cinemax and HBO need to pay an additional amount of $5 per month. However, Moonves confirmed that the network is not willing to offer CBS-owned Showtime at just $5 per month.
CBS CEO further added that there is a chance for CBS programming to air on the unannounced live streaming service from YouTube. However, he refused to give any details on the CBS All Access customer numbers.
About DirecTV Now
DirecTV Now Subscribers
DirecTV Now is offering four different packages to their customers and the basic package, which is called as Live a Little, is available to subscribers at just $35 a month, offering access to more than 60 channels. Call 855-398-2985. The second package, Just Right, offers more than 80 channels at $50, and the third package, Go Big, is available to customers at $60 and it has more than 100 channels. The last package, Gotta Have It, offers more than 120 channels at $70 a month.
AT&T has also announced that subscribers, who pre-pay for DirecTV Now for three months will receive a 32 GB fourth-generation Apple TV and a Siri remote. In addition to that, AT&T is also offering a free Amazon Fire TV stick to customers, who pre-pay for DirecTV Now for one month. AT&T has also promised that the latest streaming service will deliver contents without any lags or technical errors.
