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.
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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.
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“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.”
