• CBS channels will carried by Altice
  • Deal includes likes of CBS Sports, Showtime and Pop TV
  • Carraige agreement comes as CBS dispute with AT&T continues

CBS HQ credit Alex Millauer

CBS: Partnering with Altice 

Source: Alex Millauer

The new agreement covers retransmission content for CBS-owned stations, which includes the likes of CBS Sports, Showtime, Pop TV, and the Smithsonian Network. Altice will carry these on its Suddenlink and Optimum cable systems.

The deal also means Altice will also be able to continue offering the Showtime digital streaming service to its broadband customers – one of the roadblocks that has prevented CBS extending its existing carriage deal with Warner-owner AT&T.

According to Deadline, AT&T had sought to offer CBS All Access as a channel similar to OTT service providers Amazon and Roku, a request that was denied by CBS.

“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 Yossi Benchetrit, head of programming for Altice USA.

“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.”

Financial terms for the deal were not disclosed. Altice has nearly 5 million customers across 21 states.

For CBS, the blackout across AT&T’s services, which include DirecTV, DirecTV Now and AT&T U-Verse in 17 cities, stems from the expiration earlier this month of a CBS-DirecTV deal signed in 2012. It is unclear if this will be resolved, as both organisations have blamed each other for the impasse.

“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 Ray Hopkins, president, television networks distribution, CBS Corporation.

“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.”

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