The Walt Disney Co. said it had reached a “handshake agreement” with Dish Network, ending a blackout of Disney programming that started early Saturday morning.

“We have reached a handshake agreement with Dish/Sling TV, which properly reflects fair-market value and terms for The Walt Disney Company’s unparalleled content,“ Disney said in a statement. ”As a result, we are pleased to restore our portfolio of networks on a temporary basis while both parties work to finalize a new deal.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Dish had complained Disney was seeking to increase the amount it pays for the media company’s programming by nearly $1 billion. Disney’s ESPN alone carries the highest carriage fee among cable networks, at more than $8 per subscriber per month.

The blackout came at a tough time for Dish: the middle of football season. Fans weren't able to see college games on Saturday on ESPN and faced the prospect of losing Monday Night Football until the agreement was reached. 

Also: ESPN Takedown on Dish and Sling TV Stirs Football Fan Revolt

Dish has been shedding customers who consider themselves sports fans by no longer carrying regional sports networks, another expensive programming source. It currently offers some packages that do not include ESPN and ESPN2, but said Disney was looking to force customers with those packages to pay for ESPN. 

The strength of ESPN and its football offerings appears to have played a part in the quick resolution of this heavyweight distribution battle. In a recent survey, more cable customers called ESPN a “must-have” channel than any other network.

In addition to ESPN, the channels affected by the blackout were the ABC Owned Television Stations in eight markets, the Disney-branded channels, Freeform, the FX networks, the National Geographic channels and BabyTV.

Dish is no stranger to carriage disputes. This week it ended a three-week blackout with Game Show Network. ■

Dish Network said it reached a new carriage agreement with Game Show Network, ending a three-week blackout.

The Sony Pictures Television-owned network is being restored to the Dish satellite-TV and Sling TV virtual MVPD lineups.

“We’re pleased to have reached a multi-year agreement that benefits all parties, especially our customers,” Brian Neylon, executive VP and group president, Dish TV, said. “I want to thank our customers for their patience and understanding as we worked through the negotiations.”

Dish had accused GSN of backing out of an agreement, resulting in the blackout.

GSN said it couldn't agree to the terms Dish was demanding.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“We are happy to have entered into a long-term agreement with Dish and that Dish customers can resume watching their favorite shows on Game Show Network for years to come,” Game Show Network executive VP of distribution Tim Carry said. ■

Mediacom Communications said Wednesday it has renewed its carriage deal with Paramount Global, including several cable and broadcast networks as well as access to Showtime OTT. Terms were not disclosed.

As part of the deal, Mediacom will continue to make cable channels like BET, CBS Sports Network, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, and others available to its customers. In addition, the operator also renewed retransmission-consent rights to CBS owned-and-operated broadcast TV stations in its service territory.

Mediacom is the fifth-largest U.S. cable operator with about 1.5 million cable, telephone and broadband subscribers in 22 states. ▪️

AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Altice USA have reached a new long-term renewal of their distribution agreement, sources familiar with the situation said.

The agreement covers the former Turner cable networks including TBS, TNT, Cartoon Network and truTV.

Financial details were not disclosed.

WarnerMedia’s HBO Max is carried under a separate agreement.

On Monday, WarnerMedia announced a similar carriage deal with Comcast. In that deal, Comcast agreed to carry CNN Plus, the new streaming news service, when it launches later this year.

CNN Plus was not included in the Altice deal, but the streaming service could be added in a separate agreement. 

For WarnerMedia, the deals might represent a closing of the books. AT&T is selling off the expensive media properties it acquired and WarnerMedia will become part of Discovery.

The Discovery-WarnerMedia combination will be headed by David Zaslav, a former head of NBC Cable. Zaslav has long complained that Discovery’s share of cable distribution fees is smaller than its share of cable viewing because it does not have the leverage that owning TV stations or sports rights brings. Owning WarnerMedia could bring more clout to Discovery in the marketplace.

Also: Top Distribution Executives Leaving at WarnerMedia

The deals may also be an audition for WarnerMedia’s distribution team. Discovery is looking for billions in cost savings when it combines with WarnerMedia and distribution is one area ripe for consolidation.

According to MoffettNathanson, Turner’s cable affiliate fees were down 2.5% to $1.56 billion in the third quarter. ■

Heading off what could have been a major disruption, Comcast has reached a new deal to carry The Walt Disney Co.’s content.

Disney and Comcast have had a touchy relationship since Disney outbid Comcast for 21st Century Fox. Comcast remains a minority owner in Hulu, now controlled by Disney, and two two companies have issues including how much Hulu is worth when Comcast sells its stake and how much content from Comcast’s NBCUniversal unit Hulu will have access to.

The deal Comcast and Disney agreed to in 2012 expired Sept. 30, and the two sides have been negotiating in relative quiet ever since.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Under the new deal, Comcast will launch the ACC Network, run by Disney’s ESPN.

Comcast already makes Hulu and Disney’s newer streaming services, Disney Plus and ESPN Plus, available to its subscribers through its X1 operating system.

“We are very pleased to have reached this comprehensive agreement with Disney to continue providing Xfinity customers access to their content across our industry-leading platforms,” said Rebecca Heap, senior VP, consumer products & propositions, Comcast Cable.

Retransmission consent for Disney’s ABC TV stations was renewed in the new agreement. Comcast will also continue to carry cable channels including the ESPN networks, the Disney-branded networks, the FX Networks, the National Geographic channels, Freeform and the SEC Network.

“We’re very happy to extend our longstanding relationship with Comcast and continue to provide their Xfinity customers with Disney’s best-in-class programming,” said Sean Breen, executive VP, platform distribution, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution. “In addition to our news, sports and general entertainment offerings, the launch of the ACC Network in the coming weeks, paired with the renewal of the SEC Network, will give Xfinity’s college sports fans long-awaited access to their favorite games.” ■

Comcast’s NBCUniversal and Google’s YouTube TV said they reached a new carriage deal, avoiding a blackout.

Sources said a deal was close Friday night. Confirmation from both sides came Saturday midday.

The new deal covers NBCU’s broadcast and cable networks. NBCU had reportedly been seeking carriage of Peacock as well, but the streaming platform was not mentioned as being part of the agreement. 

Sources indicated that NBCU routinely includes Peacock as a negotiating point in discussions, but it wasn't a priority, so NBCU took it off the table. Talks eventually boiled down to rates and a deal was worked out.

“We are thrilled to have reached a deal with YouTube TV and can continue to offer our full network portfolio, without interruption," NBCU said in a statement. "YouTube is a valued partner and we never want to involve our fans in a dispute, but we felt obligated to let them know what was at stake. We thank our viewers for their loyalty and promise to continue bringing them the networks and programs they love."

Had a blackout occurred YouTube TV said it would have cut its subscription price by $10 a month.

“We’re thrilled to share that we’ve reached a deal to continue carrying the full NBCUniversal portfolio of channels,” YouTube TV said on its blog. 

“That means you won’t lose access to any of their channels, and YouTube TV will continue to offer 85-plus networks for $64.99,“ YouTube TV said. “We appreciate NBCUniversal’s willingness to work toward an agreement, and we also appreciate your patience as we negotiated with them on your behalf.” 

Univision said it reached a distribution deal with YouTube TV, which will carry Univision, UniMás and Galavisión networks on its standard tier.

“We’re thrilled to introduce three new networks from Univision to our YouTube TV base membership, expanding our lineup of diverse content for our YouTube TV members,” said Lori Conkling, global head of TV & film partnerships at YouTube. “This launch will give our members access to even more Spanish-language news, sports and entertainment to enjoy on our service.”

Financial terms were not disclosed.

“This is something that both YouTube and Univision are very [excited] about because as you can see from the Census and all the news out there is that our community is growing faster than ever and has more influence than ever and serving them across all platforms is our mutual priority,” Hamed Nasseri, VP, content distribution at Univision, told Broadcasting+Cable.

At a time when the number of traditional pay TV subscribers are dropping from cord cutting, adding the virtual multichannel video programming distributors like YouTube TV, with more than 3 million subscribers, is important.

Also Read: Univision Acquires Equity Stake in MMA Franchise Combate Global

“YouTube TV represents a huge pivotal moment for our company in our transformation,  giving our audience yet another great platform to get our linear content,” Nasseri said.

Among the vMVPDs, Univision is also on fuboTV and DirecTV Stream. “We are always having strategic conversations with some of the other potential distribution partners,” Nasseri said, noting that with its devoted audience, having Univision aboard can help those streaming platforms grow.

Looking ahead, some of Univision's other channels could appear on YouTube TV in the future. “I don't have details to share now, but we're excited about future launches,” he said.

YouTube TV subscribers will also have access to video on demand content from Univision. The network’s daytime and primetime programming is available on demand the day it airs and Univision also has a library of 1,500 hours of content that will be available to YouTube TV subscribers.

Univision has also been working on addressable advertising. Doing dynamic ad insertion with YouTube TV and other partners is a priority, Nasseri said.

Earlier this year, Univision formed a strategic partnership with YouTube parent Google, using Google’s cloud to make Univision’s businesses more digital. 

Nasseri wouldn’t say whether that partnership helped pave the way for the YouTube TV deal, but he noted “it is really important that partners like Google and YouTube are really recognizing the importance of engaging with this audience.”

Both Univision and YouTube TV will be mounting marketing campaigns to make sure that Univision viewers and YouTube subscribers know that Univision’s networks are on the streaming TV service. 

The campaign kicks off Wednesday and will ramp up in the weeks and months ahead.

Curiosity Inc,, the fact-based streaming service pioneered by Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks, said Monday that it has reached a multi-year carriage agreement with fuboTV for its linear Curiosity Channel and its Curiosity Stream VOD service in the U.S. and Canada.

The linear channel will be available to U.S. subscribers of fuboTV’s Extra package, which includes about 40 channels. The Curiosity Channel offers an extensive range of titles, including many in 4K, that focus on nature, science and history topics as well as technology, adventure, travel and space exploration.

“We are delighted to be part of the fuboTV family and contribute to their customer-centric OTT streaming service,” Curiosity’s SVP of partnerships and distribution  Brandon Fong said in a press release. “As the leading factual entertainment service, Curiosity is well positioned to amplify fuboTV's value proposition to cord cutters and consumers who want to know more about the world around them."

The fuboTV deal comes shortly after Curiosity said it reached about 20 million customers in Q2, an increase of 4 million subscribers.  In July, the company said it reached a broad pact with German production company Spiegel TV, which is expected to expand its reach in German-speaking Europe. 

“The addition of Curiosity’s programming, which is renowned for its incredible quality and superior production, will appeal to fuboTV subscribers of all ages,” fuboTV SVP content, strategy and acquisition Ben Grad said in a press release.“Delivering an unsurpassed content experience has been a focus for fuboTV since we first launched 4K streams three years ago. Curiosity’s content portfolio, which includes thousands of premium non-fiction titles, is a perfect fit.”

Hendricks launched CuriosityStream about six years ago as a streaming service focused on fact-based programming.  Earlier this month Curiosity rebranded as Curiosity Inc. Curiosity Stream is still the flagship global SVOD service, available in 175 countries (but now two words instead of one); while Curiosity Channel is a linear service available via select services in the US, India, Sweden, sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and others. Curiosity Studios oversees the original films, shows and series, including the Emmy-nominated series Secrets of the Solar System, as well as Doug to the Rescue; Rescued Chimpanzees of the Congo with Jane Goodall; and Engineering the Future. In May the company made its first acquisition, purchasing One Day University, https://www.onedayu.com/ a service that provides lectures and talks from top professors.

Whatever you think about Sinclair Broadcast Group's planned direct-to-consumer offering, slated for next year, one thing is certain: in the near term it really doesn’t mean that much. A more pressing deal, and one that may have even broader implications to the broadcast giant, could be answered in the next few weeks -- its carriage deals with No. 2 satellite TV service provider Dish Network.

Sinclair's retransmission consent agreement with Dish expires on Aug. 15, and many have expected that carriage of the RSNs will become a big part of that negotiation. Dish represents about 8 million subscribers for Sinclair, and the company has said in Securities and Exchange Commission filings that it is counting on the revenue from that Dish deal to keep its engines humming.

“The Dish deal has become overly important,” sports consultant Lee Berke, president and CEO of LHB Entertainment & Sports, said. “There is no question it is an issue, but now everybody is focused on it.”

The jury is still out as to just what Sinclair is willing to do to ensure that carriage. Some have speculated that the broadcaster could allow Dish to place the RSNs on tiers -- long a bone of contention between programmers and distributors -- and/or offer the satellite TV giant an equity piece of its DTC offering. So far, neither side is saying anything officially about the talks. 

Also Read: Sinclair’s Streaming RSNs and Warner’s CNN Plus May Be Pay TV’s Biggest Disruptors

Dish has pushed for tiering sports networks before -- it was one of its reasons for dropping the Sinclair RSNs in 2019.

In an interview in 2019, Dish executive VP Andy LeCuyer didn’t say the “T-word,” but it was pretty clear what the company wanted. 

“We think the RSN content should be sort of like a ticket to the ballpark. Fans who love and want that content should be the ones who pay for it, not forcing the vast majority of other subscribers to subsidize it, ” LeCuyer said in that 2019 interview. 

Dish declined to comment on the current negotiations with Sinclair, but perhaps the company will have more to say when it releases its Q2 results on Aug. 9.

Now, with the negotiating ball clearly in their court and the pressure to make a deal squarely on Sinclair, it could be Dish’s best chance ever to make that happen.  

And though Dish chairman Charlie Ergen has been critical of Sinclair’s sports networks in the past, Dish could be open to a deal, especially after it ended a three-year blackout of premium channel HBO on July 29. Dish let HBO go dark on Oct. 31, 2018 claiming high prices and retaliation by HBO parent AT&T over Dish’s objection to its merger with Time Warner Inc. When the dispute was settled, Dish subscribers were allowed to purchase HBO’s streaming service HBO Max at a 20% discount ($12 per month for one year) and get sister premium channel Cinemax, for $10 per month. 

Sinclair apparently baked in the Dish deal in a proposal to its bondholders to restructure about $8 billion in debt at its Diamond Sports Group unit, the vehicle that houses its RSNs. In an 8-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June, Diamond Sports estimated its revenue would be between $3.07 billion and $3.249 billion in 2021, and analysts have estimated that about $400 million of that would come from Dish. 

According to the 8-K, Sinclair said the talks with bondholders were ongoing, but the companies were “unable to reach a definitive agreement at the time.”  Some analysts took that to mean bondholders wanted to see how the Dish talks panned out before committing to a deal, which according to some reports included a proposal to get bondholders to invest an additional $300 million to $500 million in Diamond Sports.

On its conference call to discuss Q2 results on Aug, 4, Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley chafed when an analyst characterized the proposed restructuring as “unsuccessful,” adding that he saw it as more of a move “towards a deal that is amenable to both sides.”  

He added that Sinclair didn’t want to do just any agreement, but wants the right agreement. Just what that is, he didn’t say.   

To be fair, Ripley is really in a difficult place. He can’t say anything about ongoing talks with bondholders or distributors because of non-disclosure agreements and as a result, investors and onlookers assume the worst. Only time will tell the true story, but unfortunately time is running out. 

Sinclair stock has been battered over the past two years, rising as much as 46% to $61.81 per share in the days after it said in May 2019 that it would buy the Disney RSNs. The stock has been on a downward slope practically ever since, closing at $31 each on Aug. 6, down about 1% for the year and priced at about half what it was in May 2019. 

Ripley was frustrated about the stock performance, devoting a good portion of his opening statements on the conference call to what he said was a “significantly undervalued” stock.

During the presentation he went through a sum-of-the-parts valuation of Sinclair, pointing out its warrants for Bally stock -- part of its deal to sell branding rights to the RSNs in 2020 -- that are worth about $600 million at current prices and would cost Sinclair about $60 million to execute; a $1.2 billion tax shelter benefit that also came out of the RSN buy; the $1.7 billion  value of its licensed broadcast spectrum; and finally, $200 million in non core businesses and equity stakes in companies like antenna maker Dielectric and 5G solutions provider Saankhya Labs. And that’s not even including the value of its core TV broadcast and cable networks businesses. 

“When you put even a conservative valuation on our 185 TV stations, Tennis Channel, stadium, news on STIRR and RSNs and account for the net debt of Sinclair, you will get a per share value that is more than double the current level of where our stock is trading today,” Ripley said.

But there are a lot of factors to considering share prices, and right now Sinclair is in the middle of a transition. In a research note, Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Steven Cahall noted that Sinclair's investor base has shifted from broadcast-centric to a broadcast/media/gaming hybrid, which has caused some confusion. . 

“Investors are recalibrating, and we think, not sure quite what to do with the new Sinclair,” Cahall said in a research note. “Things have not gone well for the RSNs, leaving no equity value, consuming management resources (e.g., potential restructuring, loss of sports during coronavirus) and non-stop estimate revision risk. We also think the RSNs can drag TV retrans as SBGI supports the whole portfolio in future deals.”

So, in other words, all eyes are on the Dish deal.    

At the moment, Dish appears to be in the best negotiating position. The old threat that keeping the channels off will lead to subscriber losses means little because any such declines have already happened. Dish has little to lose by not carrying the RSNs, and therefore could force some concessions in negotiations that Sinclair might otherwise reject. Some believe that Dish could be allowed to put the RSNs on a separate tier as well as receive a small ownership interest in the DTC offering.

Allowing RSNs on a tier could affect future negotiations with other distributors, but some observers believe that Dish is enough of an outlier that Sinclair will be able to keep its other deals intact. 

“I don’t think you can lump all of the RSNs together and say this is a bellwether,” said one sports exec who asked not to be named, adding that while tiering isn’t optimal, he’s more worried about allowing distributors to cherry pick which RSNs they want to carry. But he also conceded that shifting to a tier-model would shave linear carriage at least in half. 

The rest of the RSN business is somewhat insulated in its ownership. Comcast and AT&T own the NBC Sports RSNs and Root Sports RSNs respectively, so if they were going to get placed on a tier, many believe it would have happened already. Others like MSG, SNY and YES Network are in major markets where tiering may not have that huge an impact.   

“Sinclair is going to do whatever it has to do to get this deal done,” the sports exec said. “They’re going to be as creative as they can get. If they have to shave off certain RSNs, if they’ve got to tier, they're going to do whatever they can.”

Mediacom Communications has reached a multi-year comprehensive carriage agreement with Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, that will include the mid-sized operator taking on Disney’s ACC Network.

Mediacom said it would add ACC Network to its lineup, offering access to Atlantic Coast Conference games and programming beginning in September. The companies added that the multi-year deal also reaffirms their "mutual commitment to enhance the customer experience by delivering video content to viewers across multiple platforms."

In addition to the ACC Network, Mediacom will continue to carry Disney’s ESPN networks, its Disney branded channels, Freeform, the FX networks and the National Geographic channels. The deal also covers retransmission consent for Disney’s owned and operated ABC television stations. 

“We couldn’t be more pleased to extend our long-standing relationship with Mediacom and continue to supply Disney’s best-in-class programming from our suite of networks,” Sean Breen, EVP, Platform Distribution, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution, said in a press release. “With Mediacom’s strong presence in key markets, the addition of the ACC Network and its extensive offerings of live sporting events will add tremendous value for their customers.”

Mediacom is the fifth largest cable operator in the country with about 611,000 video and 1.5 million broadband customers across 22 states, primarily in the Midwest and Southeast.  

“Since Mediacom’s inception over 25 years ago, it has been our mission to serve our customers with state-of-the-art technology and expansive content,” Mediacom EVP of Programming and Human Resources Italia Commisso Weinand said in a press release. “We are proud and honored to continue our relationship with the Disney organization that shares this same commitment to quality and innovation.”  

Charter Communications chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge told analysts Friday that the cable company’s recent deal with ViacomCBS, especially its streaming component, was a "modern agreement" that reflects the changing video landscape, hinting that similar deals could be reached in the future. 

Charter said it reached a multi-year carriage deal with ViacomCBS on July 15, and though terms were not disclosed both companies said it included the ability for Charter to license ViacomCBS’ suite of streaming services, including Paramount Plus, Pluto TV, BET Plus and Noggin, for future distribution to Spectrum customers. 

“[I]t was a modern agreement, a new agreement and recognized that the video business is changing,” Rutledge said on a conference call to discuss Charter’s Q2 results.  “And it addressed our legacy relationship and addressed our new direct-to-consumer relationship with Viacom.”

ViacomCBS launched Paramount Plus in March and like other programmers, has looked to streaming services as the future of distribution. Viacom CBS said it had about 36 million subscribers to its streaming services at the end of the first quarter. 

The Charter deal seems to be in line with the general consensus that cable distributors, who now count on broadband service to drive most of their profit, want a deeper relationship with streaming services. Most already integrate apps from SVOD pioneers like Netflix, Hulu and  Amazon Prime into their set-top boxes. As more and more customers opt for broadband-only service -- Charter said its single play service penetration rose nearly two percentage points in Q2 to 45.7% from 44% in Q2 2020 -- operators are looking for additional content options to drive growth. 

Also Read: Streaming: It's Not a War, It's a Revolution

Rutledge said the streaming component to the  Viacom CBS deal was “integral to the discussion and consistent with our view that we'd like to be part of the marketplace and to enhance our video and customer relationship with customers through managing transactions for them.”

ViacomCBS has been working hard to improve the footprint of its streaming services. Reports surfaced earlier this month that chairman Shari Redstone and CEO Bob Bakish had informal meetings with Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts about a possible partnership  involving international streaming. During Comcast’s Q2 results conference call July 29, Roberts didn’t confirm those meetings, but said he would be open to partnerships that promoted international streaming. Comcast’s NBCUniversal launched its streaming service -- Peacock -- nationally on July 15, 2020 In the second quarter, Comcast said Peacock had 54 million signups and 20 million monthly active users representing a 50% increase from the previous period. 

Rutledge also offered more insight into Charter’s seemingly uncanny ability to report stronger video subscriber results than its peers. Charter added about 56,000 video customers in 2020, while other operators struggled with increased losses. In the most recent Q2, the company lost 63,000 video subscribers, better than the 160,000 most analysts believed it would lose, and well behind the 399,000 losses endured by its closest peer, No. 1 cable operator Comcast. Rutledge said there is no secret formula to Charter’s video performance, just common sense. 

“We're selling more packages that allow us to tailor video to customer needs,” Rutledge said. “It's a difficult business because in general, video is very expensive. Our costs for video to provide it to customers are very high and continuously going up.”

Rutledge added although some consumers are priced out of the market because of the high cost of some traditional video packages, the alternatives are experiencing even higher churn.

“The new products that have been developed -- direct-to-consumer products -- are churning at higher levels,” Rutledge said. “And so our products also are in that re-adoption process of - that occurs as a result of churn.”

While that may make some think that the video business is stabilizing, Rutledge said the downward trend of the overall traditional video business can’t be ignored.  

“The fundamental trends haven't stopped, which is that prices are being continuously passed through to consumers, and there's real pressure on the total cost of the bundle,” Rutledge said. “The reason we're relatively better, we've been moderate with our pricing, and we've created new packages that cost less.” 

Wells Fargo media analyst Steven Cahall told clients Tuesday that he believes Sinclair Broadcast Group’s regional sports networks could face a “tumultuous” period over the next few months, as uncertainty mounts concerning its upcoming carriage renewal with Dish Network and its ongoing battle with streamers YouTube TV and Hulu Live.

Sinclair’s RSNs, which were rebranded on April 1 as Bally Sports Networks, have been under the gun lately, after they failed to reach carriage deals with YouTube TV and Hulu before Opening Day of the Major League Baseball season. Now the networks -- which are housed under the umbrella of Diamond Sports Group -- are facing another potential battle as carriage negotiations with Dish Network are expected to start in the coming months. 

Also Read: Sinclair, Streamers Still at Impasse Over RSNs 

Dish dropped 16 former Fox Sports RSNs in July 2019,  shortly before Sinclair acquired the networks in August 2020. In a research note, Cahall wrote that he believes a deal eventually gets done, but will depend on the liquidity situation at Diamond. If Sinclair is able to favorably recapitalize the holding company -- which it is in the process of doing -- it should have the upper hand in talks with the satellite TV company. If not, Dish would have the advantage. 

But Dish has managed to survive for more than a year without the channels and has a reputation for taking an extremely hard line when it comes to sports channel carriage. That could also play a role in negotiations. 

“Dish is arguably the toughest MVPD negotiator and has financially benefited from dropping the RSNs,” Cahall wrote. “Thus, we believe a deal is likely, but our best guess is Dish returns with some sort of win/win partnership. Time will tell.”

Dish did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Also Read: RSNs Scramble for Streaming deals as Opening Day Approaches 

Sinclair and Diamond first started to try to restructure its debt in October.  Now, according to Bloomberg, Sinclair is entertaining creditor proposals to restructure the debt and was close to new marketing deals with other sports betting companies. 

According to Cahall, Bloomberg said that Diamond is in talks with creditors and outside investors on a number of issues, and one proposal by its unsecured creditors would have them pumping at least $500 million of new cash into the company and exchanging their bonds for new debt with tighter covenants. Other secured lenders have proposed a $500 million term loan which Sinclair could use to exchange existing unsecured debt.

If that comes to be, Cahall wrote that Sinclair’s $1.7 billion in unsecured debt (out of about $8.1 billion in total obligations) would become secured. That gives debtholders a little more security, especially in the event of a liquidation. Diamond’s liquidity is an issue -- Cahall estimated that it would run out of cash in 18 months if nothing is done -- and in the early stages of the negotiations six months ago, bankruptcy was an option that was being considered. 

“The unsecured bonds are trading at $48 - a steep 52% discount,” Cahall wrote. “Given our latest EBITDA and FCF outlook for Diamond the cash starts to run out in the next 18 months. That's both a bad backdrop for renegotiating with Dish - thus a self-fulfilling negative prophecy - and if liquidity issues were to ultimately push Diamond into a liquidation, the unsecured lenders would likely not receive much recompense. Therefore, a haircut today with future security is arguably a positive outcome for these lenders.”

Rich Fickle joined the National Cable Television Cooperative in 2011 amid what was a trying time for the small cable operator buying collective.  After its former CEO left, there was a growing sentiment among smaller operators in the membership that their needs weren’t being met, and that larger players were dominating what had been started in 1984 as a way for small companies to band together, share ideas and buy equipment and programming with a single voice. It took some time, but Fickle and his team managed to turn the NCTC around and refocus the operation toward its original mission. Now after 10 years, Fickle told the NCTC board that he will step down before the end of the year, ending one chapter in his 40-year cable career, and perhaps opening a door to the next. Fickle spoke with senior content producer -- finance Mike Farrell about his legacy and plans for the future. An edited transcript follows. 

MCN: What brought this decision about?

Rich Fickle: It’s the longest job I think I’ve had, ever. I’ve worked for affiliated companies doing different things every three or four years, but I think this has been the same job  for 10 years. I guess maybe part of the answer is I always enjoyed tackling new things and changing the scenery a little bit to keep growing myself. But the other side of it is I think it’s healthy for this organization to also bring in a fresh perspective. As you get a little bit older you want to give a little bit of a different allocation of time for work versus other things. I felt like I was less willing to put in the 60-70 hours a week for certain things than probably should be in this role. So I said, ‘I need more flexibility and time.’ 

I’m still hoping to stay engaged in some way with the industry, but that’s a marketplace kind of opportunity. If it doesn’t happen, I’m OK with that too. 

Is this a retirement for you?

RF: I don't think it will be. It could be? It’s kind of like you’re going through a door and you really have very little idea of what’s on the other side of it. I committed to staying engaged through the end of the year. The reality is I think they’ll find a replacement within a few months. And then I’ll be helpful to that person for some period of time -- maybe a couple of months -- and then just kind of be available for the rest of the year.

It’s sound like this is something you’ve been thinking about for awhile.

RF: There wasn’t any disruptive, conflicting or change-of-life condition. I think it’s just my DNA. I kind of want to not do the same thing in one place forever. I value the learning and challenges of new environments and various things to put effort into. I think I’m happier doing that. Some people are happier knowing what they are going to do every day, and it’s very predictable. I’m just not one of the ones to do that. 

When you joined 10 years ago, NCTC was in a little bit of turmoil and there were questions concerning which direction it would take. But you seemed to bring a sense of stability pretty quickly to the organization. 

RF: I don’t know if I can opine on what I did as opposed to what a lot of others contributed. Let me answer it this way: I would say, yes, 10 years ago there were some distinctive challenges. There was a board that wasn’t as unified as it is today. You had members on the board that contained representations from some very large MSOs and some very small MSOs. And there seemed to be a lack of unity because they have some different views, are from different worlds that are pretty dramatic. You want some of that, but you have to have a balance there. That was one issue. I think the other part of it was there were certain parts of engagements with the other parts of the industry -- CableLabs or SCTE or even the other associations like those that represent the telco or fiber based providers -- that felt alienated in their relationship with the NCTC. I can't go into the story of why that happened, but one of the things we tried to do was change that, because the industry has always been  stronger when people are working together.  

The other notable shift that we tried to incorporate fairly quickly, is that the members [and] organizations had to feel like they were not disenfranchised. Small ops felt like the NCTC may have changed allegiance to focus just on the large companies. We worked hard to try to rectify that. Some of that is just the perception, because there’s a void in communication that creates those impressions sometimes of not being important anymore. But there was some reality to it as well.

The membership was a little bit unsatisfied, or feeling like this is no longer the co-op they remember. There's those things that were almost immediate challenges. Financially, there was probably a different mindset around how to manage the balance sheet. A long time ago I was a CFO and it’s just kind of ingrained in me that if you have an organization, you’ve got to  have to have a bit of staying power for opportunities and rainy days. So we had to do some work-throughs.

The plus is that the co-op was founded on a very solid foundation of a true cooperative spirit with entrepreneurial  independent companies wanting to collaborate and an employee base that had a really clear mission about trying to help small and medium sized operators really be successful. And that mission is very well ingrained and people love getting up in the morning feeling like they contributed something meaningful. Those types of things, the member mission, the spirit of the co-op, the entrepreneurial mindset, was so strong that it helped us make changes relatively quickly because there was that common ground. It’s been a good team that contributed that. We’ve had fantastic board members. We have 14-to-15 of them at any given time, so it’s a large board. But after that first year, we had a board that was much more unified. That creates a whole different dynamic because you can become so distracted by governance that is in conflict that it ripples through everything you do. I feel for the last nine years we’ve had a really, really good, supportive board. 

And we’ve had a lot of fun too. We decided to step up our game on the shows and open it up more; it was very limited attendance. We opened up the checkbook to bring in more talent, more events, because having people being able to enjoy each other's company and collaborate and build relationships is hard to measure but it’s foundational. I think it paid off. We all enjoyed that capability. COVID has kind of iced a lot of that for the more recent events, but we do want to go back to it. 

Let’s talk about the Independent Show. It seemed you were stepping things up when everyone else was stepping back.

RF: If you look at it from the larger cable operator perspective, their support of shows [and] things like that was huge dollars. They had to question themselves, the rationale for that investment, as they consolidated and grew bigger. But the NCTC group of companies hasn’t really changed that much. I think when I first joined there were roughly 700 companies, today we’re just north of that. Given the change of the last 10 years and we’re dealing with roughly 700 companies, that’s pretty amazing. We’ve had consolidation, we just keep adding new companies into the mix. There’s always been this fragmentation problem that we help solve by providing venues to help suppliers and other interested parties to work together.

The other change is the programming world has changed dramatically. The large programmers have consolidated, they have less of a need to attend shows, they’ve cut back on their affiliate staffs, but they still see value in attending, participating and supporting, which is great. The other thing we did is we expanded the scope of our supplier community to include a lot more technology partners. The size of that group of companies and the size of dollars flowing through the NCTC, I’m pretty sure, has doubled. We emphasized more of that in the last few years, and it’s growing at a very fast rate. 

As we shift more and more resources into broadband, we are not abandoning video and programming, in fact we’re growing there, but we made an intentional effort several years ago to be more tech friendly. Because a lot of the solutions that the large guys were getting behind from an R&D perspective were great for them, but it doesn’t work well for smaller markets. 

There's a divergence too. A lot of our companies come from different backgrounds. They  may be telco-centric, they may be municipalities, they may be new entrants coming from a whole different world based on fiber. But all of them have kind of taken a fresher perspective. They are early adopters of next generation network technology like fiber to the home, much more than some of the large guys that have had such huge investments in coax and DOCSIS technology. Fiber growth has fueled a lot of companies entering the business, because fiber is so powerful with broadband. Broadband seems to be a natural companion with video. Broadband is kind of the lead horse, but programming with video content is essential to customer relationships, especially in Tier 2 or Tier 3 markets. They kind of go hand in hand. We expanded and will continue to expand heavily in supporting the broadband side of that.

In the last few years, there has been an effort by the NCTC to help smaller operators that wanted to make the transition to broadband-only or at least broadband-mostly, more smoothly.

RF: You’re right, there are operators that want to transition to fiber. That’s interesting and a problem for a lot of these guys. A lot of the major fibercom providers didn’t know how to talk to cable operators, they were used to dealing with telcos maybe more than cable operators. We merged those worlds, or at least tried to help do that. So today we have five large providers of fiber technology and materials that we have done fairly good sized stocking deals with, because we know that area is exploding. We have a lot of capacity to serve members with that supply chain. We have three com deals with major providers of that technology, maybe have a fourth soon. And then we’ve done a lot on the DOCSIS modem side as well. That’s been there for a long time, but we also shifted more toward IP video support, we launched a key partnership with Plume around managed WiFi for the home, we’re going to do more of those types of things for the home network. We’ve got a circuit program now where we have multiple national carriers that supply circuits to our members. It’s a natural point of help for  members because we can aggregate those opportunities across the entire U.S. for them to have connectivity with different carriers and hopefully better terms. That program kicked off about a year and a half ago and it’s going well too. 

There’s more to come. Who knows what a successor will do, but we’ve got a road map of probably a half a dozen items that if we could do them today, we’d do them. There’s only so much time we have to work on things. But there’s a rich set of additional things we can do to help members, especially on broadband.

You’re also helping members with retransmission consent negotiations.

RF: I’m glad you brought that up, because programming and video is still pretty darn important. And if you look at the numbers we’ve actually been growing every year. How much programming we transact, on the retrans side specifically, we started with retrans deals that were tied to large cable network agreements. I think it was either ESPN or NBC that was the first because they had O&O retrans capabilities, that was probably five years ago. Just over three years ago, we did a handful of station group deals. We jumped into that pool. Then in this last round, we more than doubled that. Now retrans is a significant part of our portfolio of programming deals that we work on. These are tough. It probably is one of the biggest pain points for our membership base because of the cost of retrans and a lot of changes with programming content and station group consolidation. But it’s been very successful over the last two major renewal cycles to increase our presence on the retrans side. I suspect we will continue to do that. And I hope the station groups will see value in that too because we’re able to hopefully make it more sufficient for them to reach a large number of operators across the country.  

Even on the general programming side, last year we did 36 deals, some are renewals some are brand new, we still support entirely new networks. When I first joined the NCTC, we were lucky to get four deals a year done.  And we haven’t changed the size of the team that manages the programming side. [EVP of Programming] Judy Meyka came on a year or so after I came on. She’s done an incredible job of doing a lot of those transactions, she’s very effective, she’s built a good team. It’s really quite rewarding to see how much productivity we have on that side of the business.

One of the criticisms of the NCTC before you got there was that larger members could pick and choose which deals they did on their own and with the co-op, which some members saw as limiting your negotiating leverage. How did you change that dynamic?

RF: The way that structure worked created several problems, where larger members could almost sit at the table and see where the NCTC was going with certain deals and make decisions on whether they would pursue their own deal at the eleventh hour and even before that. That creates this uncertainty, not only for our membership and our negotiations, but think about it from the programmers’ side. The programmers were upset because they felt like ‘I have to negotiate twice with this large company, give them the benefit of seeing things coming through the NCTC and then that allows them to be more informed on their negotiation strategy.’ They felt like it was unfair. I actually agreed with them. 

It’s an imperfect world because you always have to provide choice to any member to do their own thing, and we still do that today. But we now have  structures in place that say, ‘If you want us to negotiate on your behalf, we can be effective if you commit to us today that that’s what you want to do.’ If you don’t want to commit to do that, that ‘s fine. Do your own thing, no hard feelings. But we didn’t have that before. 

So now we’re asking on major deals for members to be able to commit that they’re going to allow the NCTC to go through the negotiations. They’ll be a part of it, they’re not going to disrupt it, they’ll be supportive of it. And that has created a much, much more trusted process for both our side of the table as well as the content providers. And, yeah, there was a little bit of resistance or hesitancy to do that for various reasons, but it’s worked out.  

Do we still have large companies that still want to do their own thing for certain types of agreements? Yeah, but that’s OK. We’ve actually had more of our larger members rejoin some of our larger deals than we have the other direction where they exited on renewals. Our net track record is a positive in terms of large operators being involved in major programming deals.

We have to prove ourselves. We have to deliver value. We’ve never taken the approach that if you’re a member, you have to sign this secret oath that you’re going to do everything through the co-op. We feel like we have to earn it. If members don’t see the value in the short term and the long term of supporting that structure, then they probably shouldn’t be members. There are always situations where it does make sense for operators to consider doing a little something different for themselves. And that’s fine. 

With retrans and regular cable networks, you can go as a united front and say you represent however many millions of subscribers you represent -- at one point it was over 25 million.

RF: That depends on how you do the accounting on some of that, but that was when we had some very large MSOs involved. I always look at the level of participation as opposed to the theoretical level, how many subs are actually participating. I don’t think we ever had that number exactly from that definition. You had that number from the aggregate number of companies that signed a membership agreement. 

Can you say how many you represent now?

RF: I would say in general our larger deals probably hover anywhere from six to 10 million, which is still pretty notable in the world of consolidated companies and so forth. It could be a little less on certain deals, but that’s the general idea. 

Is it different when you’re dealing with retrans? Or do you just do national O&O deals?

RF: No, we’re doing the station group stuff. So you can think about large station groups like Sinclair and others. I think we make more sense for both sides if it's a large station group as opposed to one that only has a few stations and only affects a  few members. I think we are very focused on trying to help large station groups and large groups of  members that are part of that.      

We started off with the O&O stuff five years ago, a little bit over three years ago we did our first set of station group deals. This last round at the end of 2020, we essentially doubled the size of the station group deals.

Are you expecting that to grow?

RF: Yes. I think it’s been successful. It’s painful because they are hard deals. I think that most members see value in us helping them with that. And I think the stations see value in that efficiency as well. 

In 2017, you reached a deal for members with Mobi TV, which is going through a Chapter 11 restructuring, but it looks for now that the relationship will continue.

RF: Mobi has done a fabulous job for a lot of our member companies and it’s been embraced in a fairly quick way. Yes, Mobi is dealing with some financial issues. There are a lot of reasons for why that happened, but one of the most easily understandable ones is that they were counting on fairly high growth on their platform last year. They had been in the market long enough that a number of cable operators had been launched and the pattern for  operators to step on the gas and convert legacy video systems to Mobi seemed to be in alignment. So 2020 was supposed to be the growth year. 

COVID hit and cable operators found it very challenging to do anything that involved getting into the consumer home to switch out video systems. You combine that with the fact that the demand for broadband went through the roof in most of these markets, so operators had to reshift the resources to focus on that broadband growth and network reliability. Mobi, unfortunately, became impacted by that negatively. The growth just didn't happen. 

The good news is I think these operators are back in the saddle, trying to move forward to reignite their growth on Mobi deployments. But Mobi first has got to get through this financial restructuring and/or sales process. Chapter 11 activities are somewhat opaque. They’ve got a relatively short time to work through this and we’re very supportive of them and glad to help Mobi and/or other companies that are willing to help Mobi through investment. We’re super-supportive of them. I think our members have felt like they’ve done an excellent job. So we’re engaged, there are some areas I can’t talk about because of NDA stuff, but I can say that Mobi has been a super service and it’s been great for small operators and some of our large members as well.

Looking forward to the rest of this year, is there anything you want to do or accomplish before you hang it up?

RF: There are probably a lot of things I want to do but I probably will not get to do. Time seems to be slipping away faster than I thought. I guess it comes down to do the best I can to help the new CEO. If there are projects or things I can do to help them with after that, somewhere in that ecosystem, I’m glad to do it, but I feel like I’m probably more limited in terms of the impact I can have for the rest of the year, other than just making sure that we’ve got a really good direction set with the new person being there at the NCTC. 

Will you help with the search?

RF: We retained a search firm, Carlsen Resources, one of the best in the business. [They’ve] been working on it for a while now and I think have surfaced some good candidates.

Do you think you’ll have a candidate soon?

RF: I think so. I think the plan is to have somebody hired and in place maybe within the next six-to-eight weeks. Maybe it takes longer. Maybe it might be June before they actually can take all of the reins, but it is in that time frame. 

Is there anything you're most proud of during your time at NCTC, and is there anything you wish you could have done while you were there, but couldn’t? 

RF: Proud, in my book, it’s a team thing. I guess the pride is from the standpoint that member companies, in many cases suppliers, and our staff rallied to address challenges and also to seize opportunities. When I first started in the cable industry a long time ago, that was the norm. But as the industry evolved and large companies emerged, the cooperation with the industry was diluted. Larger companies had a mindset of their own R&D, their own capabilities, less willing to share. The experience at the NCTC, which I think we helped contribute more to in terms of building up that level of cooperation, is wonderful to see. Because it’s kind of the way I started my career in the industry and probably the way I'll be ending my career in the industry, which is seeing an uncommonly high level of cooperation for the common good of building a better business. How many times can you see opportunities like that? I feel very grateful.

On the wishful side, we have 700 companies and there are all types of ownership structures. Some are public but a lot of these companies are also third- or fourth-generation family-owned companies. The richness of the ownership and the people who lead those companies is amazing. My biggest regret is somehow I never seemed to make enough time to have developed more of those relationships in depth, because these people are amazing, 

If I had somehow a chance to do it over, I would try to figure out ways to shift time to be more with those folks. Just a personal thing, they’re just amazing people.  To hear the stories of all the challenges they had and running these companies successfully for years and years and years. 

Is that your advice for the next person that comes in?

RF: Yes. I regret not doing more of it. I think I did OK at it, but regret not doing more. I think it’s a foundational element of trust that is essential for a cooperative to be successful. People have to get to know you. And I think it's enriching in both directions.    

Law&Crime said it has continued to expand its cable distribution and has been launched by Blue Ridge Communications.

The network, created by legal commentator Dan Abrams and backed by A+E Networks, is now available in more than 23 million households.

In the past 12 months, Law&Crime has gained carriage deals with Verizon Fios, Cincinnati Bell, Hawaiian Telcom and Buckeye Broadband.

Related: Public Defender Buckmire to Host 'Law&Crime Daily'

Blue Ridge Communications serves customers in Eastern and Central Pennsylvania.

“Law&Crime continues to diversify channel lineups in a legal and true crime programming genre that remains highly sought-after,” said Alex Kopacz, head of content distribution & licensing at Law&Crime. “Our unique content has helped the network stand out and we’re thrilled that Blue Ridge sees this value for their channel packages and subscribers.” 

Law&Crime features daily live trial coverage and expert legal commentary and analysis.

In addition to cable, Law&Crime is available over the top via fuboTV, Sling, Philo, Vidgo, Xumo and TV Plus.

CuriosityStream said it has reached a distribution deal with Tata Sky, India’s largest content distribution and pay TV platform.

CuriosityStream will be available via Tata Sky Binge, which can be accessed on the Tata Sky Binge+ Smart set top box and on the Amazon Fire TV Stick-Tata Sky Edition. Tata Sky Binge aggregates the premium OTT and catch-up TV content under a single interface and subscription.

Curiosity Stream will also be available as a linear service on television to Tata Sky DTH subscribers with an option to view live and catch-up content on-the-go via the Tata Sky Mobile app, beginning Nov. 17.

“CuriosityStream shares Tata Sky’s commitment to bringing viewers the highest quality content wherever and whenever they want to experience new adventures and discover the world’s most fascinating events, people, and places,” said Bakori Davis, managing director and head of International Distribution for CuriosityStream in a press release. “We look forward to partnering with Tata Sky to introduce CuriosityStream to new viewers throughout India and to grow our company’s reach in this dynamic media market.”

The partnership will enable Tata Sky subscribers to enjoy  exclusive originals, series and features like Deep Ocean Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, Dragons & Damsels Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, Stephen Hawking’s Favorite Places, Mumbai Railway, Amazing Dinoworld and Age of Big Cats among others.

“CuriosityStream has thousands of informative and thought-provoking documentaries covering the realms of science, history, space, technology and many such subjects that have an enviable fan following in India,” said Tata Sky chief commercial and content officer Pallavi Puri in a press release. “This kind of a coveted library adds another dimension to our content catalogue and we are very proud of this association.”

Sinclair Broadcast Group is reportedly considering its options concerning its regional sports networks, including a possible bankruptcy, about a year after it paid $9.6 billion for 21 former Fox Sports RSNs. A lot of reasons have been given for the need for a restructuring. The pandemic, which has decimated sports teams and networks as seasons were shortened or canceled; the pressure to issue rebates to distributors for undelivered games; and the decline in overall linear programming viewership have all contributed to RSN declines. And while those reasons are certainly valid, one very important factor in the Sinclair RSN’s current dilemma is missing: timing.

Sinclair got into the RSN business at a time when regional sports networks were on the decline, but were still considered to be one of the few places left that encouraged live viewership, so-called “appointment TV.” Part of the concessions The Walt Disney Co. made in gaining approval for its purchase of certain 21st Century Fox assets -- the government ordered the divestiture of the Fox RSNs because Disney already owned a dominant sports network, ESPN -- bidding for the channels was intense. But pricing was not. Originally, Disney thought it could attract as much as $20 billion for the networks. And though there was a lot of interest, as the rounds progressed it became apparent that they wouldn’t get anywhere near that valuation. 

The problem: while sports was and is still considered one of the few things that TV viewers watch live, the cost of the channels was getting out of hand. At the same time, distributors were pushing back against sports channel affiliate fee increases, claiming that not enough subscribers watched the channels to justify the cost. Cord cutting made the idea of carrying expensive programming even less attractive. 

Now, that all appears to be coming home to roost. According to a report in the Wall Street Journal Wednesday,  creditors of the unit that holds the RSNs -- Diamond Sports Group -- are preparing to possibly restructure about $8 billion in debt. Sinclair, which set up Diamond Sports to bear most of the debt load of the Fox Sports acquisition -- the broadcaster is only on the hook for about $170 million of that obligation -- had earlier tried to restructure the debt through an exchange offer. Bondholders, who would have had to take a substantial haircut in that exchange, took a pass.

In a research note, Wells Fargo Securities media analyst Steven Cahall said bondholders will have to consider whether to keep Sinclair as the operating partner for the RSNs -- a service for which they take about $100 million in EBITDA annually -- or go with another partner. The analyst prefers a Sinclair exit.

“We think the RSNs have been Sinclair’s Achilles heel as it's a distraction for investors, an asset in decline and a potential drain on retrans to support RSN carriage fees,” Cahall wrote. “While there's no equity value in Diamond these factors also mean less equity value in TV. Ultimately we view a separation of the RSNs as the best case scenario for Sinclair as it removes a big overhang that's needed management's attention since the get go.

But others believe the RSNs current problems seem more tied to the pandemic and that isn’t going to last forever.      

“They definitely took a hit on baseball, you lost 100 games per team,” said one sports executive who requested anonymity, adding that the possibility remains that the 2021 NBA, NHL and MLB could start late and could be compressed. “...Nobody is saying they aren’t watching games. The ratings for baseball regionally were very strong. If there is a finite number of games lost, it’s not the end of the world. The content is still valuable.”

And the sports exec added that Sinclair is still doing RSN deals and hiring people, an indication that it still feels the business is moving forward.  

Related: Why Sinclair’s Sports Bet is a Risky Play 

In its last quarterly earnings conference call with analysts, Sinclair CEO Chris Ripley said that it had locked up about 85% of its RSNs total customers for two years and beyond. That figure included the carriage deal for its Marquee Sports Network with Comcast. Marquee Sports was not part of the Fox RSN buy, instead it is a separate partnership between Sinclair and Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs. 

Related: Worry Over Sinclair’s Sporting Chances 

While it has been able to strike long-term deals wit h traditional distributors, Sinclair has had a tougher go with virtual MVPDs. In the past year it has lost carriage with YouTube TV, fuboTV and Sling TV. On Oct. 22, Hulu Live + TV added its name to the list, telling its customers that the 21 Sinclair RSNs, Marquee Sports and the YES Network would go dark as of Oct. 23.  That leaves only AT&T TV Now among major vMVPDs that carry the networks.    

While those disputes, like most carriage fights, probably center around pricing, there are some in the sports industry that believe that Sinclair’s RSN problems are more tied to the rights fees the networks are paying the teams whose games they carry. 

“That is what it comes down to, are the RSNs covering their nut to the teams,” said one RSN executive who asked not to be named. “It doesn’t matter if the [LA] Clippers stink or not, they are still going to get top dollar from Fox Sports San Diego or Fox Sports West.”

Related: RSN Redux 

Others feel that while affiliate fees are still strong, the overall decline in pay TV customers means that the RSNs are getting less money as part of their deals. 

According to MoffettNathanson, traditional pay TV -- cable, satellite and telco -- has lost about 10 million customers since 2018. And the bleeding is expected to continue. Kagan, a unit of S&P Global Market Intelligence, estimates that by 2025 the pay TV universe will lose about 31 million customers.

That has some pundits wondering if the deterioration of the traditional model where linear networks pay fees to sports networks based on their total number of subscribers, is on the way out. 

But there is a danger in switching to a direct-to-consumer model, mainly that sports networks will have to rely on revenue from customers that want to watch them, not everyone with a pay TV subscription. That could be a big difference -- currently there are about 80 million TV homes, and some analysts estimate that only about 30% of those customers watch sports. That could mean that a D2C regional sports offering would have to charge about three times more per month just to make as much money as it was receiving under the old model. As a result, many in the industry are hoping for some kind of hybrid model. 

“At some point, you have to be thinking, ‘how do we offer this on a streaming basis as well,’” the sports exec said. “The pandemic, as awful as it is, is finite. But it’s accelerated the drop off in pay TV penetration. If you’re any network, you now have to figure out far more quickly than you thought how you’re going to handle streaming. It’s not abandoning pay TV, it’s a question of can you coexist on both.”

And then there is the question of ad revenue -- with less potential eyeballs, networks could be worth less to advertisers. And there is the threat that customers would drop the service after their favorite team’s season ends, meaning that the RSN could see a big drop off in revenue toward the end of the year. 

That could be especially hard for RSNs that basically only carry games in one professional sport, like SportsNet New York, home of the New York Mets. 

“From October until March, they could potentially have no income,” said the RSN exec who asked not to be named.   

In the meantime, some were hoping that legalized gambling would help the networks, both in terms of additional advertising and the potential of allowing actual wagering via the TV remote or online for everything from the final outcome to specific plays. That has not worked out to be the windfall it was expected to be. 

Related: Not Quite All In On Sports Betting 

So far, according to some reports, as of August only 18 states have passed legal gambling bills since the Supreme Court opened the door to sports wagering in 2018. Four states, -- Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee and Washington - have passed bills allowing sports gambling but are not yet operational. And there are active bills in another nine states, and 12 states have rejected legalized sports wagering. But save for a few ventures, sports gambling hasn’t been the savior most RSNs expected. 

Sinclair was also counting on sports gaming being a bigger part of the business, and hired former Poker Central & Estars Studios chief business officer JR McCabe to head up its D2C Gamification unit.

In a research note Wednesday, LightShed Partners analysts Rich Greenfield, Brandon Ross and Mark Kelley issued a report on the state of RSNs, noting that even if legal gambling were more widespread, it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference and could have negative effect on viewership of sports channels. 

The analysts said that although the leagues’ claims that gambling would boost viewership is “intuitive,” albeit hard to quantify, it could also “catalyze the loss of community around sports and could produce offsetting effects.” They also noted that illegal sports betting has been around for decades, and so far hasn’t moved the viewership needle as much as could be expected. 

But the sports exec said that could change as the pandemic winds down. States will be looking for new sources of revenue, and gambling could fit the bill. 

“They need revenue, and gambling is an easy way to get it,” the exec said. “In terms of looking forward, in the next three-to-five years, I think you will see a majority of states, two-thirds or more offering gambling.”

Again, it’s all a matter of timing. And timing is everything.  

ViacomCBS and Dish Network said Monday they have agreed to a multi-year carriage deal, terms of which were not disclosed.

The pact includes Dish’s satellite TV service customers as well as its Sling TV over-the-top service subscribers.

The Dish agreement comes on the heels of ViacomCBS’s deal to license its programming to NBC Universal's Peacock streaming service, which is set to launch nationally on July 15. 

The Dish deal comes after similar agreements for the programmer with YouTube TV in June, Verizon Communications’ FiosTV in April and with Comcast in January. 

ViacomCBS said it has reached a new distribution deal with Google’s YouTube TV, renewing carriage for its broadcast and sports networks and adding 14 additional channels to the streaming service’s lineup.

According to ViacomCBS, the new deal includes continued carriage of ist CBS broadcast stations, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel and The CW. In addition, 14 other ViacomCBS networks will be added, beginning with BET, CMT, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, TV Land and VH1 this summer. BET Her, MTV2, Nick Jr., NickToons, TeenNick and MTV Classic will also debut among YouTube TV’s growing line-up of premium content.

The deal also includes a continued commitment to distribute ViacomCBS’ premium subscription services, including Showtime, on YouTube TV, as well as an extended partnership on the broader YouTube platforms.

“We are thrilled to have reached an expanded agreement with YouTube TV that recognizes the full power of our newly combined portfolio as ViacomCBS,” ViacomCBS president, U.S. Networks Distribution Ray Hopkins said in a press release. “Google has been an excellent partner, and we look forward to bringing even more of our entertainment networks to YouTube TV subscribers for the first time.”

YouTube TV offers more than 70 channels of live and on-demand TV and can be watched on any screen. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We're excited to launch ViacomCBS' portfolio on YouTube TV this summer, " YouTube TV global head of partnerships Lori Conkling said in a press release. "Our expanded partnership delivers on our promise to offer a premium portfolio of content to our YouTube TV subscribers, as well as across the YouTube platforms."

Fox Corp. and Comcast said Wednesday they have renewed distribution agreements for the programmer’s broadcast and cable networks. Terms were not disclosed.

“We are pleased to extend our longstanding and productive partnership with Comcast so that millions of Xfinity customers will continue to enjoy Fox’s leading sports, entertainment and news programming for years to come,” Fox president of operations and distribution Michael Biard said in a press release.

The long-term deal includes retransmission consent agreements for Fox owned and operated television stations and carriage of Fox cable channels Fox News Channel, Fox Business, FS1, FS2, BTN, and Fox Deportes. In addition, the agreement includes video-on-demand and TV Everywhere rights for those networks through the Xfinity Stream, Fox NOW, Fox Sports and Fox News apps with dynamic advertising.

“We are pleased to have reached this multi-year agreement with FOX to continue to deliver its array of content across our platforms for Xfinity TV customers,” said Comcast Cable SVP of video and entertainment Rebecca Heap in a press release. 

AXS TV and HDNet Movies are being offered to distributors as a free preview from now through May, owner Anthem Sports & Entertainment said. That allows cable, satellite and other pay-TV providers to offer the channels for free to non-subscribers. AT&T's DirecTV and U-verse have taken up the offer, Anthem said, as has the National Cable Television Cooperative. Network free previews have started to proliferate during the coronavirus outbreak that has prompted millions of people around the country to stay at home. 

Some upcoming programming on the channels includes the Jeddah World Fest on AXS TV on April 5, featuring artists such as Future (pictured), and  a “Biopic Music Marathon” on HDNet Movies in April. 

Related: Charter Expands Showtime, Epix to All Video Customers Through April 19

“During challenging times such as these, music and films can be comforting,” Anthem senior VP of distribution Randy Brown said in a statement. “They help people take their minds off of their fears and concerns for a few hours, and instill a sense of normalcy to an otherwise unconventional situation. With live events being postponed for the foreseeable future and movie theatres closing due to safety concerns, entertainment is becoming increasingly scarce. Because of this, we are pleased to offer free previews of our two most popular channels—AXS TV and HDNET MOVIES—to all distributors starting now through May. We hope that viewers across the country will enjoy our signature high-quality content, and find some solace in reconnecting with the films and artists they love."

Photo provided by Anthem Sports & Entertainment.

Verizon’s Fios TV video service has added Bloomberg Television on the East Coast, effective Wednesday.

The move makes business-oriented Bloomberg TV available in key financial markets including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Bloomberg was founded by Michael Bloomberg, who is running for president.

"Fios TV customers enjoy a wide range of viewing choices and we're pleased to add Bloomberg TV to that line-up," said Erin McPherson, Verizon's head of content strategy, acquisitions and programming. "Bloomberg's content will be welcomed by our viewers seeking first-class global business news coverage."

Financial terms were not disclosed. Verizon had dropped Bloomberg TV in January 2018. At the time Bloomberg was reportedly seeking carriage fees from distributors for the first time. 

"Bloomberg continues to be a leading news destination for business and finance professionals all across the globe," said M. Scott Havens, global head of digital & media distribution for Bloomberg Media. "We are pleased to have reached this agreement to bring our unrivaled business news to millions of Verizon Fios customers, many of whom are the world's most influential decision-makers that seek our business-critical insight throughout their day."

Comcast avoided a year-end blackout of Starz, reaching an agreement Monday with the premium channel that also includes a deal to license content from its parent Lionsgate for the cable giant’s upcoming streaming service Peacock.

Comcast’s deal with Starz was set to expire on Dec. 31. Talks were apparently stalled earlier over pricing of the premium service, which oftentimes is higher than what the channel charges for its standalone streaming app. Comcast had started to notify customers in October that it would drop the Starz channels in early December  in favor of an expanded agreement with another premium service, Epix. When some local governments objected, Comcast agreed to keep the channels on its lineup at least until Dec. 31. Starz is in the middle of the final season of top series Power, which returns for the final five episodes on Jan. 5, and is expected to stay on Xfinity lineups for the finale.

Under the new agreement, the Starz flagship premium channel, as well as the Starz Encore suite of channels -- including Encore, Encore Westerns, Encore Black, and Encore Action -- and related video on demand content will continue to be available to Xfinity customers with expanded distribution on the Comcast Flex platform and a path for an orderly transition to an à la carte business.

“We are pleased that we were able to extend the partnership to Peacock and other businesses within Comcast while also ensuring Xfinity customers continue to enjoy great Starz programming,” said Comcast Cable president of consumer services Dana Strong in a press release.

Related: NBCU Brand New Streaming Service Peacock

NBCUniversal’s upcoming streaming service Peacock, scheduled for an April launch, will also license content from Starz parent Lionsgate as part of the deal, with access to hundreds of feature films and shows from the Lionsgate catalog to stream alongside the previously announced slate of original series, TV shows, and films from Universal and other major studios. NBCUniversal will also license content to Starz to be featured in the U.S. and on its international streaming service, StarzPlay, now available in 49 countries.

“We look forward to continuing our longstanding partnership with Comcast to deliver great content and great value to our customers,” said Starz CEO Jeffrey Hirsch in a press release. “Our ongoing relationship with Comcast reflects our ability to unlock opportunities across all of our businesses to the benefit of our subscribers.”

Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Hemisphere Media Group networks WAPA Televisión and WAPA Deportes were restored to Dish Network in Puerto Rico and WAPA América will return to Dish in the United States in January after the companies reached a new distribution agreement, Hemisphere said today (Dec. 18). 

The networks went dark on Dish on Oct. 24. The deal also extends CentroAméricaTV carriage on the DishLATINO programming tier in the U.S.

Hemisphere said broadcast channel WAPA Televisión and sports service WAPA Deportes were restored to Dish in Puerto Rico on Monday (Dec. 16). 

Related: WAPA Channels Are Back on DirecTV in Puerto Rico (2018)

Hemisphere Media CEO Alan J. Sokol said in a release: “We are deeply grateful to our viewers for their loyalty and support during our time off air, and are pleased to have reached an agreement with Dish, allowing our loyal audience to once again enjoy the news, entertainment and sports from the #1 television network in Puerto Rico. We are also pleased that Dish will continue to distribute CentroAméricaTV, reflecting the importance and value of these networks to Hispanics living in the U.S.”

Comcast continues its negotiations with Starz over carriage of the premium network, pledging to keep the channels on its XFinity lineup at least until its agreement with the programmer ends on Dec. 31.

Comcast began notifying customers in October that it intended to drop the Starz service -- which numbers 17 channels -- by Dec. 10 and replace it with Epix. Comcast changed its mind and agreed to carry the Starz channels through Dec. 31, as some local governments objected. 

Comcast said that the Starz main channel and all of its on demand content is available to customers as the talks continue. But about six Starz channels were removed from video packages to make room for Epix -- Starz Edge, Starz in Black; Starz Comedy; Starz Cinema; and Starz Kids & Family. 

Content from those channels is still accessible to Comcast customers via On Demand.

“We are still negotiating to try to reach a deal with Starz that makes sense for us and our customers,” Comcast said in a statement. “Starz and StarzEncore content will remain in customer packages until the end of the month under our current agreement.”

Starz declined comment but some people familiar with the programmer confirmed that talks with Comcast are ongoing.

Cable operators have chafed in the past regarding Starz pricing. The premium channel’s standalone app is priced at $8.99 per month, while cable and satellite operators have to charge as much as $11.95 per month to their customers for the service. That was the gist of last year’s five-week blackout of the channel by Altice USA. The two parties were able to reach a deal in February 2018.

The Walt Disney Co. reached an agreement in principle on a new retransmission consent and carriage deal with AT&T that would keep networks including ABC, ESPN and the Disney Channel glowing in homes with DirecTV, U-verse TV and AT&T TV Now.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

In the past few months AT&T has been involved in carriage disputes with CBS and Nexstar Media Group that have resulted in lengthy blackouts. The company’s chief financial officer said the blackouts — along with some price increases — contributed to the loss of between 300,000 and 350,000 subscribers in the quarter.

On Friday, another large station owner, Sinclair Broadcast Group, said it was operating under a temporary extension with AT&T and that its stations could go dark on Sept. 28.

Disney began warning AT&T subscribers of a potential blackout on Sept. 10.

“Our contract with AT&T for the ABC, ESPN, Disney and Freeform networks is due to expire soon, so we have a responsibility to make our viewers aware of the potential loss of our programming. However, we remain fully committed to reaching a deal and are hopeful we can do so,” Disney said in a statement at the time.

Viacom said it has renewed its distribution agreement for its stable of media networks with the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), a buying cooperative of more than 750 small and mid-sized cable operators.

“We are pleased to reach an early agreement that extends our long-standing partnership with the NCTC,” Viacom EVP, head of distribution and business development Tom Gorke in a press release. “NCTC operators play an essential role in serving local communities, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with them to help drive member priorities and entertain their customers with our leading portfolio of entertainment brands.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“Viacom is a great partner, and the early renewal of our Viacom agreement reinforces our strengthened relationship,” NCTC EVP of programming Judy Meyka in a press release. “We are happy to have reached a deal that provides value to all parties and, more importantly, provides our members and their customers with continued access to compelling content and programming options from Viacom.”

CBS said it has reached a comprehensive content carriage agreement with Altice USA. Terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.

According to CBS, the deal includes its owned and operated TV stations, its Showtime premium channel, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV and Smithsonian Channel. The agreement also enables Altice to continue offering the Showtime digital streaming service to its broadband customers.

“We are pleased to strike a fair marketplace deal with Altice for CBS, Showtime, CBS Sports Network, Pop TV and Smithsonian Channel well in advance of our expiration and without any disruption to consumers. We appreciate the value Altice places on delivering America’s #1 network to its customers,” said CBS television networks distribution president Ray Hopkins in a press release. “Altice is a great partner, and we look forward to continuing to bring our highly-rated programming and exclusive major sporting events to all of Altice’s customers.”

The deal comes as CBS continues to be at loggerheads with another distributor -- AT&T -- over 14 stations that went dark on July 20 after they failed to reach a retransmission consent agreement. 

“Altice USA is committed to delivering a wide array of high-quality content for our customers at competitive, fair rates, and this new agreement with CBS allows us to meet that objective,” said Altice USA head of programming Yossi Benchetrit in a press release.. “We are pleased to extend our longstanding partnership with CBS, enabling the CBS network portfolio to remain available to our customers as part of Altice’s Optimum and Suddenlink TV lineups.”

Discovery Inc., said it has reached a multi-year distribution agreement with YouTube TV for its networks to be carried on the over-the-top service’s live TV and on-demand offerings.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Discovery said its Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, and MotorTrend networks will launch on the service on April 10. OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, will launch by year end 2019.

“We are proud to partner with YouTube to deliver our beloved networks, talent and programming to YouTube TV subscribers,” said Discovery president of affiliate distribution Eric Phillips in a press release. “This agreement highlights how much viewers love our brands and the high value that passion has in the marketplace, and underscores YouTube TV’s commitment to offering high-quality programming to subscribers.”

In addition to the live channels, YouTube TV subscribers can access Discovery content through YouTube TV’s VOD service, DVR with no storage space limits or authenticate to Discovery’s GO platform, with access to the nine networks’ watch apps and entire library of nearly 50,000 on-demand titles.

“We’re thrilled to add the Discovery channels to YouTube TV, which has been a key ask from our subscribers,” said YouTube TV global head of partnerships Lori Conkling in a press release. “We launched YouTube TV to showcase the best of live TV through a simple and modern experience. Today’s announcement delivers on that promise as we continue to build a new way to experience your favorite TV shows.” 

Dish Network and HBO continue to be at loggerheads five months after the premium channel went dark to about 3 million of the satellite-TV service provider’s customers.

And despite the looming April 14 premiere of one of the channel’s biggest hits in history — Game of Thrones — there are no clear signs that a deal will be reached.

HBO went dark to Dish customers on Nov. 1, after the two parties couldn’t come to a carriage agreement. It was the first time in HBO’s 46-year history that it failed to secure a carriage deal with a major carrier.

Dish at the time characterized the blackout as retaliation for its opposition to the merger between AT&T and HBO’s former parent Time Warner, while HBO said its goal has been for its subscribers to have uninterrupted access to its shows. In a statement last week, HBO said it did not see a resolution to the dispute coming soon.

“There has been no meaningful engagement by Dish regarding terms for the carriage of HBO and Cinemax on its platforms,” the programmer said. “HBO derives no benefit from Dish preventing their customers access to our services, and continues to be deeply disappointed that Dish took them down. We do not foresee HBO and Cinemax returning to Dish or Sling before Game of Thrones premieres.”

Distributors Push Back

The blackout is unusual because premium channels normally cut deals that are largely skewed toward the distributor. In recent months, though, other operators have pushed back against what they claim are exorbitant pricing demands from premium programmers that sell streaming video services to their customers at a lower rate.

Altice USA got into a similar scuffle with premium channel Starz last year, peeved that the network was charging customers $8.99 per month for its streaming service while the operator had to charge $11.95 per month. That dispute was resolved after a five-week blackout.

As of press time, the Dish-HBO dispute had entered its sixth month with no resolution.

Dish is no stranger to blackouts. It did without Spanish-language broadcaster Univision for nine months, reaching a deal in March to return its cable and broadcast channels to the satellite service but losing a ton of subscribers along the way — more than 600,000 by some estimates. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, was reached despite Dish chairman Charlie Ergen saying last June that the blackout would “probably be permanent.”

In a note to clients, Wolfe Research managing director Marci Ryvicker said the return of Univison was surprising. “Looks like Charlie [Ergen] doesn’t really believe in ‘permanent,’ ” Ryvicker wrote, noting Univision covers about 5 million Dish subscribers.

Dish has a total of about 12.3 million satellite TV and streaming customers, so technically, it could weather a lengthy HBO blackout. And customers could get the premium network in other ways, especially by subscribing to standalone streaming service HBO Now.

Though streaming is fast becoming a viable alternative in pay TV carriage disputes, Dish subscribers primarily reside in rural markets where broadband service is spotty at best.

Subscriber Loss Pressure

Both companies are under intense pressure to stem subscriber losses. Dish lost a record 384,000 satellite TV customers in the fourth quarter, primarily because of the Univision and HBO blackouts. HBO just lost its CEO, Richard Plepler, and is undergoing sweeping structural changes as it is absorbed, along with the Turner networks, into WarnerMedia Entertainment, now headed by former NBCUniversal Entertainment CEO Bob Greenblatt, and probably can’t afford a big drop in its customer base either.

Given Dish’s past history, analysts are expecting the dispute to have an impact. Pivotal Research Group CEO and senior media & communications analyst Jeff Woldarczak predicted that Dish would lose about 300,000 satellite TV customers in Q1, worse than in the prior year quarter but better than Q4 2018. UBS media and telecom analyst John Hodulik expects Dish to shed about 333,000 total pay TV customers in Q1, nearly double the 185,000 it lost in Q1 2018.

Bandwidth Consulting CEO Bryan Rader, in a conference call April 1 with Evercore ISI media analyst Vijay Jayant, said he doesn’t believe that Dish customers under contract want to terminate service early just because of the HBO dispute. But that attitude changes once they roll off promotional deals.

“We believe as those customers are coming off of contract in the first quarter they are terminating and going to other providers,” Rader said on the call.

Ergen said on Dish’s earnings conference call in February that while HBO has a strong brand, “some customers find that they can live without it.”

For those that can’t, he added they will find other ways to watch, either by going to a friend’s house or sharing streaming passwords.

Even if Dish and HBO make nice by the April 14 premiere, more perils could be coming for the satellite-TV provider. According to reports, Dish’s deal to carry the Fox regional sports networks — currently being auctioned by The Walt Disney Co., which is expected to close a deal by mid-June — expires in the summer.

Dish carries several Fox RSNs, but it hasn’t been afraid to shun networks it thinks are too expensive. The satellite giant hasn’t carried New York area RSNs MSG Network or SNY for several years.

Discovery Inc. continues to rack up the streaming TV carriage deals, with an agreement Monday for programming from six of its networks to debut on Pluto TV later this month.

According to the multi-year deal Pluto TV will stream library content from six of Discovery’s networks -- Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, ID, Discovery Life, Science Channel, and TLC. Discovery, through an investment made by Scripps Networks Interactive in 2016, is an investor in Pluto. Discovery purchased Scripps in a deal valued at $14.6 billion earlier this year.

“We are thrilled to welcome another world-class media organization like Discovery to Pluto TV,” said Pluto TV SVP content partnerships Amy Kuessner in a statement. “Discovery is a renowned leader with premier programming that inspires and entertains all types of audiences. We are excited to introduce Discovery’s award-winning content to our viewers.”

Select episodes from series including Discovery Channel's Misfit Garage, TLC's Kate Plus 8, Animal Planet's River Monsters and ID's Dates from Hell, will be made available via the offering.

The deal comes on the heels of a pair of streaming deals  for Discovery in September with Hulu and Sling TV. 

“Having our world-class Discovery content as part of Pluto’s offering reinforces Discovery’s commitment to reach all viewers across all screens, platforms and devices,” said Discovery SVP digital distribution Gabriel Sauerhoff in a statement. “We are excited to provide audiences another way to access the shows that they love, while also introducing these brands and series to new viewers.”

Pluto TV delivers more than 100 free, ad-based channels on a wide range of platforms, including Roku players, web browsers, Android TV devices and PlayStation and Xbox consoles, among others.

AT&T and Fox Networks Group have renewed a multi-year carriage deal to distribute Fox programming across AT&T’s video platforms -- DirecTV, DirecTV Now and AT&T U-verse.

According to AT&T, the deal includes Fox’s owned and operated local broadcast stations in 17 cities, 22 regional sports networks, cable channels FS1, FS2, FX, FXX, FXM, National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild, BabyTV, and Spanish-language services Fox Deportes, Nat Geo Mundo and Fox Life, as well as the Fox Soccer Plus pay-per-view service.

“We are pleased to have closed a multi-year deal with Fox for their entire array of content. Our customers will continue to enjoy their programming live and on-demand on all their devices, both at home and on-the-go,” said AT&T chief content officer and senior executive vice president Daniel York in a statement. “Fox has worked with us in this deal to deliver more choice for consumers and better value to AT&T customers.”

The deal comes as Fox is nearing the finish line in its deal to sell much of its cable content and movie studio assets to The Walt Disney Co. That deal is expected to close in the first half of 2019. 

AT&T closed on its purchase of Time Warner Inc. in July after it received the regulatory green light from U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon. The U.S. Department of Justice, which had earlier tried to block that deal on antitrust grounds, is appealing that decision. 

“We’re pleased to expand our partnership with AT&T through this wide-ranging agreement which ensures that our top-rated entertainment and sports programming will remain broadly available to DirecTV, DirecTV NOW and U-Verse customers for the foreseeable future,” Fox Networks Group president of distribution Mike Biard said in a statement. 

Philo, the entertainment-focused OTT TV service, has expanded its baseline package via the addition of three digital streaming channels – Cheddar Big News, PeopleTV and Tastemade.

RELATED: Philo Unleashes Entertainment-Focused OTT TV Service

Cheddar Big News is a new channel from Cheddar emphasizing the day's headlines. PeopleTV, formerly known as The People/Entertainment Weekly Network, features originals and specials from People and Entertainment Weekly. Tastemade is a streaming channel with shows and content focused on food, home, and travel lifestyles.

RELATED: People/Entertainment Weekly Network Becomes ‘PeopleTV’

Philo joins other virtual MVPDs that have begun to add digital channels to lineups that also feature more traditional TV channels.

RELATED: Cheddar Launches on YouTube TV, Debuts New Channel

Cheddar Big News, Tastemade and PeopleTV join Philo’s base package that costs $16 per month and a lineup that includes networks such as A&E, AMC, BBC America, Discovery Channel, Food Network, Lifetime, MTV, VH1 and Viceland, among others. The additions expands Philo’s base package to 40 channels.

Philo also sells a $4 add-on package that includes nine additional channels: American Heroes Channel, BET Her, Cooking Channel, Destination America, Discovery Family, Discovery Life, Logo, MTV Live, and Nicktoons.

Philo launched its national OTT TV service last November. The service has not announced a subscriber figure, but this week launched a referral program that offers a $5 credit for each referral and a $5 credit to the person they refer to the Philo service. Philo said there’s no limit to the amount of credit subscribers can earn.

“Philo is simply a better way to watch TV, and with the addition of Cheddar Big News, PeopleTV and Tastemade, we are thrilled to add even more value for our subscribers,” Andrew McCollum, Philo’s CEO, said in a statement. “We built Philo for everyone who feels like TV was no longer serving them, and this is one more way we can stand apart.”

Comcast said it will launch premium channel Epix to Xfinity TV customers across the country on June 13, making good on a carriage deal the two reached in November.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but with the addition of Comcast, Epix said it is now available in 70 million homes.

“We are incredibly excited to partner with the team at Comcast to bring our expanded lineup of original programming and extensive movie catalogue to their customers,” said Epix president Michael Wright in a statement.

Epix offers original series like Get Shorty, starring Ray Romano and CIA drama Berlin Station, 2,000 film titles as well as movies franchises such as James Bond, Star Trek and Rocky across all Xfinity TV platforms in and outside the home.

“Our goal has always been to offer our customers more choices and the ability to access all the programming they desire when and where they want it,” said Comcast Cable vice president, video entertainment services Daniel Spinosa in a statement. “We’re excited to bring EPIX into the fold and offer both their growing catalog of top quality original programming, and their robust movie library to all subscribers, across all platforms.”

fuboTV, an OTT TV service that’s been focused on sports programming, has introduced a broader-focused and pricier package that offers more than 80 channels for $49.99 per month.

The new Fubo Extra tier, offered for $19.99 for the first month following a seven-day free trial, expands on the baseline package and features channels such as BabyTV, BBC World News, Cooking Channel, DIY Network, Game Show Network, INSP, Sony Movie Channel, Revolt, and Stadium, as well as People TV and music nets from XITE.

The base package, now called Fubo and formerly called Fubo Premier, starts at $44.99 per month. Both tiers feature a cloud DVR service and two streams. Fubo TV also offers premium cloud DVR option and a way for subs to purchase an additional stream.

RELATED: fubo TV Offers a Third Stream

fubo TV subs “have been asking for additional options and more premium content, and Fubo Extra meets this demand by featuring everything in our base Fubo package, plus more lifestyle, entertainment, news, kids and sports content, movies and music videos, all for less than $50,” Ben Grad, fubo TV’s head of content strategy & acquisition, said in a statement.

fubo TV is also adding the new option amid growing competition in the OTT TV sector that includes Hulu, YouTube TV, Sling TV, DirecTV Now, and PlayStation Vue.

Other channels new to the service via the Fubo Extra package include BBC World News, Cooking Channel, DIY Network, and GSN.

RELATED: fubo TV Raises $75M More

fubo TV, which announced having more than 100,000 subs as of last fall, also sells several add-on packages, including Adventure Plus, Fubo Latino, International Sports Plus, Sports Plus or Showtime, among others. Fubo TV subs with the Sports Plus package also get Stadium and Stadium Plus. 

Cheddar, the business and tech news service focused on younger audiences, has added another major U.S. pay TV operator to its distribution list – Altice USA.

Altice USA is offering Cheddar on Altice One, an internet-connected multi-service platform that was introduced last November and supports both traditional TV and OTT-delivered content, a voice remote, and ties it all together with a cloud-based guide/interface.

RELATED: Altice USA Unveils ‘Altice One’

Carriage of Cheddar via Altice One builds on a relationship Cheddar has with Altice USA’s News 12, which airs the Cheddar Tech Report daily on its seven stations in the New tri-state area, and i24NEWS, which covers some of the top stories from Cheddar.

Altice USA adds to Cheddar’s mix of distribution via traditional and digitally-focused MVPDs, and follows recent Cheddar deals with Hulu, YouTube TV, Sling TV, Layer3 TV (now part of T-Mobile), and Comcast (via its X1 platform). Cheddar also distributes programming through other partners, including Amazon, Facebook, Spotify, Twitch and Twitter, among others.

RELATED: Cheddar to Join Hulu Lineup

“We are pleased to enhance our relationship with Cheddar by launching the network as one of the growing number of streaming services available on our advanced Altice One platform, giving customers an even broader range of news options accessible alongside all of their other favorite content,” Hakim Boubazine, Altice USA’s co-president and COO, sad in a statement.

“With millions of customers, Altice USA is one of the largest broadband and TV providers in the US. We’re excited to bring Cheddar to Altice One,” added Jon Steinberg, founder and CEO of Cheddar. “We have been working with Altice for several quarters now on a content partnership with News 12, and we look forward to deepening our partnership in the coming months.”

Cheddar, which provides news content focused on business, technology, culture, and politics, can now be accessed by all Altice One households.”

Cheddar, the tech and business news network focused on millennials, is extending its reach to 85 airports in the U.S. and Canada and more than 5,000 hotels through a deal with ReachMe.TV.

Under the agreement, Cheddar will feed top stories and interviews to ReachMe.TV’s network, which has a reach of more than 100 million viewers monthly, they said.

“I was sitting in Newark airport at the bar having a scotch and eating grilled chicken before my flight. I looked up, saw Reachme TV and decided Cheddar was perfect for those screens,” Jon Steinberg, CEO of Cheddar, said in a statement. “Reachme controls over 2,000+ screens in 85 airports. Cheddar will now be available to millions and millions of travelers who are the perfect audience.”

“Cheddar’s content is a refreshing take on news, business, and technology which resonates with our modern mobile viewer,” added Ron Bloom, co-founder of ReachMe.TV.

RELATED: Twitch Tunes in Cheddar Channel

The agreement adds another distribution conduit for Cheddar programming, expanding on carriage on Sling TV, Amazon, Philo, Pluto TV, Comcast’s X1 platform, various connected devices, as well as its recently launched 24/7 channel on Twitch, among others.

RELATED: Cheddar Streams onto Comcast’s X1 Set-Tops

Premium network Starz went dark to about 4.6 million Altice USA customers at midnight, with the cable operator suggesting that those that still want access to the service subscribe to the Starz standalone over-the-top product.

Starz had warned customers earlier this week that it could reach an impasse in its negotiations with Altice USA, which offers service in the New York metropolitan area under the Optimum brand and in the Midwest as Suddenlink. Starz had claimed Altice USA had refused to negotiate in good faith, while Altice chafed at what it claimed were pricing demands that would make the service more costly to its customers than if they just purchased the OTT product. In the end, Altice decided to let customers do just that, after Starz declined its offers, including one to extend its current agreement.

RELATED: Comcast Won't Authenticate Subs for Starz' New App

"We are focused on providing the best content experience for our customers and continually evaluate which channels meet their needs and preferences relative to the cost of the programming imposed by content owners,” Altice said in a statement. “Given that Starz is available to all consumers directly through Starz' own over-the-top streaming service, we don't believe it makes sense to charge all of our customers for Starz programming, particularly when their viewership is declining and the majority of our customers don't watch Starz. We believe it is in the best interest of all our customers to replace Starz and StarzEncore programming with alternative entertainment channels that will provide a robust content experience at a great value."

Starz’ streaming product is available for about $8.99 per month. Altice said customers seeking more information can do so by visiting Optimum.net/starz.

Starz stuck to its guns in a brief statement, adding that it is willing to continue to try to hammer out a deal.

"Altice has shown an unwillingness to negotiate in good faith to the detriment of our shared customers, and they have removed Starz from their platform," Starz said in a statement. "We remain available to discuss a fair and reasonable agreement that will serve the interests of our loyal subscribers."

While Altice said Optimum or Suddenlink customers can still access Starz through the OTT service, it is launching replacement channels for customers who previously received Starz or StarzEncore as part of a video package, including Hallmark Drama, Sony Movies, MGM HD, HD Net Movies, Flix, and Cowboy Channel. Certain customers will also receive a complimentary subscription to TMC.

Despite Altice’s claims that its viewership within its footprint is declining, Starz says it has the No. 2 and No. 4 top drama in premium television and its programming has resonated with African-Americans and the LGTBQ communities. Power is the No. 1 show among African-Americans on premium television and also ranks high (No. 2) in African-American households in Altice’s footprint. And Outlander continues to attract high ratings among female viewers – it was 2017’s No. 2 scripted series behind HBO’s Game of Thrones, per Starz.

Altice USA customers who previously purchased Starz a la carte will have the option to receive another premium service or they can purchase the Starz OTT service directly through Starz (for less, Altice claims, than what it would be able to charge if it agreed to the network’s demands). 

Newsy said a new wave of distribution deals with cable operators have extended its reach to 26 million cable homes, and is now on track to push that number to about 40 million next year.

Newsy, acquired by E.W. Scripps in 2013, said its new traditional MVPD footprint comes way of deals with Comcast, AT&T and Charter Communications, among others.  

Of that group, Newsy said Comcast transitioned approximately 6 million subscribers to Newsy in October, and expects Newsy to reach 10 million Comcast subs by Q4 2018. Scripps, the company pointed out, has also renewed its broadcast television retransmission agreement with Comcast, which now includes its seven Scripps legacy stations, beginning Jan. 1, 2020. 

RELATED: Newsy Nabs First Cable Carriage Deal

Those deals come as Newsy continues to supplement its OTT-focused distribution strategy with one that also centers on cable operators. That added focus on the traditional MVPD sector followed the acquisition of Retirement Living Television’s carriage contracts. Newsy is also carried by OTT TV services such as Sling TV and YouTube TV.

RELATED: Scripps-Owned Newsy Becoming a Cable Channel After RLTV Purchase

“These companies have welcomed Newsy in part because of the terrific traction it has received with millennial audiences on OTT,” Adam Symson, Scripps’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “Given that the vast majority of Americans have cable or satellite service, Newsy’s programming will help these companies retain the younger customers who are looking for the alternative to the noise on today’s cable news channels.”

Those new distribution deals, he added, also help Newsy further develop a dual revenue stream model that factors in carriage fees and ad dollars, “even as we expect to retain a low digital cost structure.”

The Walt Disney Co. warned Altice USA customers in the New York and New Jersey areas that they could lose access to networks like ESPN, Disney Channel and the ABC broadcast network if it fails to reach a carriage agreement with with cable operator.

Altice USA and Disney have been in talks for weeks concerning carriage of the channels. While the deal officially expires at the end of the month, reports have said that the discussions are heated, with Disney asking for hefty fee increases and carriage of additional networks.

Disney has basically remained silent through the speculation, but later Friday made public its concerns that a deal may not be reached.

"Our contract with Altice is due to expire soon, so we have a responsibility to make our viewers aware of the potential loss of our programming," Disney said in a statement. "We remain fully committed to reaching a deal and are hopeful we can do so. Our company has never had a disruption of service for our family of networks and there is no reason that should change now."

Altice USA said it continues to work with Disney, but will not bow to what it perceived as threats.

"We are always working hard to negotiate carriage agreements that reflect the best interest of all our customers," Altice USA said in a statement. "We want to carry ESPN and its sister networks, including ABC and Disney, at a reasonable rate and have already offered an increase in retransmission fees and sports programming costs. Yet, despite the fact that viewership of their programming by Optimum customers has been declining in the double digits for years, ESPN and its owner are demanding double the rates for ABC for the same content they offer today, exorbitant fee increases for ESPN, and are trying to force customers who don’t receive ESPN to have to pay for it.

"Skyrocketing programming costs, particularly those charged by broadcasters and sports networks, are the greatest contributor to rising cable bills, and ESPN is already the most expensive basic cable channel in history," the cable operator continued. "This behavior by ESPN is anti-consumer, and we urge ESPN and its owner to stop the threats, leave their programming on for customers and focus on negotiating an agreement that is fair for our Optimum customers.”

A Disney/ABC spokesperson noted that customers of Altice USA's Optimum service in the New York and New Jersey areas are no strangers to high costs.
“The typical Optimum customer pays $160 or more each month for service to Altice, and the bulk of that money goes into their pocket," the spokesperson said in a statement. "For broadcast basic, Altice charges its customers $34 which is more than 15x the amount we are seeking for the market’s most watched station, WABC.”

Eleven Sports, the UK sports channel thought to be circling around One World Sports, made it official Thursday, announcing that it has purchased certain distribution assets of the troubled network.

Terms were not disclosed.

One World had been on the ropes over the past several months, after one suitor unexpectedly backed away from a deal for the network, which forced it to furlough much of its staff.

Eleven Sports is owned by global investment company Aser and its founder, Italian investor Andrea Radrizzani, who also is the founding partner and vice chairman of MP & Silva, an international sports rights company. Through Aser Radrizzani purchased 50% of second tier UK Championship League team Leeds United.

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Eleven Sports launched in 2015 as a linear and streaming sports service and according to its website has launched multiple channels across select markets in Poland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Singapore and Taiwan. The company says it offers live coverage of sports events from around the world, analysis, digital content and local programming. In a statement, Eleven Sports said that with the deal, the channel is now available in 50 million homes in the U.S through carriage deals with AT&T, DirecTV, Verizon, Charter, the National Cable Television Cooperative and others, though the network's actual subscriber count would be a much smaller number than 50 million.  

“Entering the U.S. market presents a significant moment for Eleven and a fantastic opportunity that is aligned to our core strategy to reach and connect with young fans everywhere,” Eleven Sports executive chairman Marc Watson said in a release. “By breaking into the U.S. market, we are opening the door to 50 million fans from day one and we are committed to providing them with LIVE action and unique insight into sports content that is both engaging and tailored to suit fans’ specific interests.”  

Layer3 TV, the Denver-based next-gen cable operator, said it has expanded its “allHD” package with the launch of Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

Financial terms were not announced, but Layer3 TV said both channels – from Crown Media Family Networks – are now available on its mostly widely-distributed package, called Platinum.  Its allHD lineup features more than 250 channels and includes the HD feed of all channels that offer one.

Layer3 TV said it’s also adding those channels amid Hallmark Channel’s annual “Countdown to Valentine’s Day” programming tilt, which features five new original love-themed movies, and started on Jan. 29 with the premiere of Love Locks, starring Jerry O’Connell and Rebecca Romjin.

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Layer3 TV currently offers service in the Washington, D.C., metro and in the Chicagoland markets. It’s expected to launch in Denver next. According to The Denver Post, Layer3 TV was anticipating a service launch in its home market by mid-January, but that timing appears to have slipped. At last check, Layer3 TV’s Web site notes that the company plans to bow services in the Mile High City “soon,” but does not cite a specific date.

Layer3 TV is an IP-delivered video service, but does not consider itself an “over-the-top” offering in part because its video signals do not traverse the public Internet from their origination point to the local market. But, unlike a traditional cable operator, Layer3 TV doesn’t own and operate the local-access network.

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 “We are thrilled to bring our customers Crown Media’s two distinct networks, which provide top quality family entertainment for everyone in the household,” said Lindsay Gardner, Layer3 TV’s chief content officer, in a statement. “Layer3 TV is dedicated to bringing customers a premium service and will always be adding content, features and experiences to achieve that end.”

Getting in on more of the gridiron action before the close of the NFL’s regular season, Layer3 TV said it has inked a deal to offer NFL Network and NFL RedZone.

The deal, announced Thursday, comes in time to carry tonight’s game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles (also available on NBC and streamed via Twitter), and two games to be offered on NFL Network this weekend – the Cincinnati Bengals vs. the Houston Texans on Christmas Eve, and the Baltimore Ravens vs. Pittsburgh Steelers matchup on Christmas Day.

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Layer3 TV said NFL Network is included in its baseline “allHD Platinum” package (offered to all its subs), and will offer NFL RedZone on its Sports & Info tier, which also features channels such as ESPN Classic, Great American  Country, Pac-12 networks, Fox College Sports, Outside Television, Fight Network, Ride TV and CNBC World, among others.

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Layer3 TV, a full-freight, IP-based pay TV service, is currently available in the Washington, D.C., metro area, and in the Chicagoland market. Its headquarters city of Denver is also on deck to get service.

Updated: Layer3 TV told The Denver Postthat it expects service to launch in the Mile High City in mid-January 2017, and is now in the process to take pre-orders for consumers who want to be at the top of the list when deployments get underway.  To help prime the pump, Layer3 TV is also offering discounts of $10 per month for the first year, the paper noted.

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“Layer3 TV’s subscribers can now get all NFL Network games and original programming as well as all the action from Sundays during the regular season on NFL RedZone,” Lindsay Gardner, Layer3 TV’s chief content officer, said in a statement.  “Our subscribers deserve the best, so combining NFL Network and NFL RedZone with Layer3 TV’s best-in-class picture quality and innovative technology will deliver NFL fans a crystal clear, in-home experience that won’t go unnoticed.”

RELATED: Layer3 TV Coming to Denver ‘Soon’: Report

Estrella TV is getting a nationwide berth on DirecTV starting tomorrow, according to parent company LBI Media. Estrella TV will launch on channel 442 across the country. Estrella TV has been on in local markets via broadcast affiliations with DirecTV, in Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Denver and Salt Lake City, but this launch in DirecTV's Hispanic packages is the first national placement, the broadcaster said. DirecTV has more than 20 million customers across the country.

“DirecTV is committed to providing the most programming options at the best value for its customers,” Emma Brackett, vice president of content and programming for AT&T (which owns DirecTV) said in a release from the network. “Estrella TV’s popular programming format offers more choices for our customers who enjoy watching Spanish-language channels.”

“This agreement illustrates Estrella TV’s importance as content provider of relevant and original Spanish language television programing in the U.S.,” Cathy Lewis Edgerton, senior vice president, distribution and affiliate sales, Estrella TV Network, said in the release.

For sports fans, September marks the beginning of fall’s TV-sports nirvana, as all four major pro sports leagues are in play, with college football also kicking off and the college-basketball season soon to ramp up.

Along with the multitude of national broadcast and cable networks, as well as regional sports services, airing live events this fall, a rookie live-event distributor will hit the field with the promise of providing fans with even more access to the sports content they want.

Social-media service Twitter will live-stream the Sept. 15 New York Jets-Buffalo Bills Thursday Night Football telecast, the first of 10 live Thursday night games Twitter will offer to both users and nonusers (i.e., you won’t need a Twitter handle to watch) during the 2016 National Football League season as part of a landmark multimillion-dollar carriage deal inked this past April.

While the NFL has thrown content passes to online platforms before — it streamed a regular-season game last year via Yahoo, and just last month announced plans to launch its own Snapchat Discover channel — the Twitter deal marks a new frontier for both the league and the platform.

The NFL joins Major League Baseball and the National Hockey League in streaming live games via Twitter. And though it doesn’t offer any National Basketball Association games, Twitter has inked a deal with the pro-hoops circuit to air two exclusive series once the 2016-17 regular season launches next month.

No one expects Twitter’s live streaming to cut into national or local viewership of NFL, MLB or NHL telecasts. It remains to be seen if consumers will even consider watching live video content on what has traditionally been a text and photo-based media site for news and information geeks.

But the Twitter deals represent more chipping away at cable’s live-sports value proposition. The more games sports fans can watch outside the traditional cable subscription package, the greater the potential they’ll switch content-delivery teams.

One World Sports, which recently came off Dish Network and Sling TV after a carriage deal lapsed, has been added to AT&T-owned DirecTV and U-verse sports packages as of Labor Day under a new agreement. The channel -- with rights to assorted sports leagues and event rebroadcasts including North American Soccer League games, Kontinental Hockey League contests and, new this fall, Ivy League football (starting with Colgate vs. Yale on Saturday, Sept. 17) -- joins the DirecTV Sports Pack at channel 623 and U-verse's The Sports Package at channel 1665.  

“One World Sports offers an alternative for viewers who are passionate about sporting events that don’t often receive wide coverage in the U.S. like rugby and cricket,” Rob Thun, senior vice president, Content and Programming, for AT&T said in a release. “We anticipate One World Sports will be a popular addition to our Sports Pack for all kinds of fans.”

“The media landscape is evolving rapidly, but this transaction underscores that live sports, with its mix of excitement, immediacy and fan loyalty, continues to attract and retain subscribers,” Alexander “Sandy” Brown, CEO at ONE World Sports, said in the release. “We’re thrilled that DirecTV and U-verse have added One World Sports, an independently owned network, to their lineups.”

One World Sports says it is available to more than 43 million U.S. multichannel-TV homes and is an option on the Apple and Google Play stores. 

Claiming that a required provision for “most favored nation” status in its carriage contract was unacceptable, sports network One World Sports said it has opted not to renew its five-year carriage deal with Dish Network and its OTT service Sling TV.

Effective 7 p.m. Tuesday (Aug. 30), One World Sports was no longer available to Dish and Sling TV customers.

In a statement, One World said it objects to MFN provisions because they “limit a network’s ability to expand in a rapidly changing marketplace. With an insistence on MFN terms that were imbalanced relative to the network’s carriage, our preference was to provide another in a series of short-term extensions while we worked through a new agreement reflecting our limited availability to Dish subscribers. Regrettably, Dish declined an extension.”

Typically MFNs prohibit a content provider from cutting deals with other distributors at more favorable terms.

In a statement, Dish said that it “constantly evaluates the content we carry and we work to provide channels that our customers’ demand. As a result, sometimes channels are removed based on a combination of customer interest and business terms to carry the channels. For these reasons, One World Sports was removed from the Dish platform.”

Another factor that may have led to the impasse is One World’s desire to seek different terms in its renewal, such as inclusion in a domestic sports package in HD across all platforms instead of the standard definition carriage in an ethnic channel package it had previously enjoyed.

“It is our desire for the network to have carriage on Dish with packaging consistent with, and in a format, where fans look for live sports content,” One World said in a statement.

 “While we know this is the best business decision for our network, we deeply regret how this may impact our viewers and their ability to watch all the exciting programming slated for September,” One World said in its statement.

One World is scheduled to kick off its college football coverage on Sept. 17 with the Yale Bulldogs hosting the Colgate Raiders. The network also continues coverage of the North American Soccer League (NASL) with its Game of the Week and NASL This Week highlight shows and live coverage of all the New York Cosmos’ home and away games. Already underway on the network are Kontinental Hockey League and Champions Hockey League action and the European soccer season featuring Arsenal FC, FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich FC. 

Univision has filed suit against Charter over fees for carriage of the network, including on Time Warner Cable systems now part of Charter. 

"Charter insists that the contract Univision had with Time Warner Cable is controlling, rather than its own contract with Univision," said Univision in a statement. "Charter bases this argument on the preposterous theory that as a result of the merger, Time Warner Cable, rather than Charter, is managing all these cable systems. But everyone knows that is not true: the longstanding CEO and the executive team of Charter, as well as its pre-existing board of directors, now manage and control all of the cable systems," said Univision.

According to a copy of the suit, Univision says Charter is trying to get the lower TWC fee for all its systems through 2022.

"Disregarding its clear contractual commitments, New Charter now implausibly asserts that through June 2022, the prior TWC agreement [with Univision] not only governs the Legacy TWC Systems, but also grants it the right to distribute Univision’s programming on the Legacy Charter Systems over the same period. New Charter rests these unbelievable claims on a clause in the prior 2009 distribution agreement between Univision and TWC (the “TWC Agreement”) that defines “Systems” governed by that agreement. New Charter points to the definition of “System” as defined, in relevant part, as one “that is managed with respect to programming matters by a Time Warner Company . . .” (emphasis added). By its own plain terms, however, the TWC Agreement cannot apply because, following the Acquisition, TWC clearly does not manage any of the cable systems at issue, as Defendants themselves have repeatedly stated and as they have demonstrated incontrovertibly through their actions."

"We have a long-term contract with Univision and we expect them to honor it," said a Charter spokesperson.

One World Sports has added three more distributors to its growing affiliate roster.

The global sports service has inked deals with Service Electric, enTouch and Paul Bunyan Communications, under its master agreement with the National Cable Television Cooperative.

Service Electric serves subscribers throughout the Lehigh Valley and Wilkes Barre, Penn., as well as Hunterdon, N.J., and surrounding areas.  

Paul Bunyan counts subscribers in Bemidji and Grand Rapids, Minn., while enTouch serves the greater Houston area.

“Soccer and other global sports are increasingly popular in every region of the United States, especially among our core audience of hard to reach 18-to-34-year-olds,’” said Randy Brown, executive vice president, distribution, of One World Sports.  “Our recent agreement with the NCTC, which opened the door to these latest launches, reinforces our growing industry support.”

One World Sports, which also counts Verizon FiOS, Dish Network, Charter Communications, Cablevision’s Optimum TV and Mediacom Communications among its affiliates,  provides more than 3,000 hours annually of exclusive best-in-class sporting events – including socer, notably the New York Cosmos (pictured), baseball from Japan, basketball from China, cricket from England, ice hockey from Europe and Russia, and golf and soccer from around the globe.