Windstream has finalized a new deal to offer DirecTV’s satellite TV service as well as DirecTV Now, the OTT-delivered pay TV offering to residential customers across its footprint.
Financial terms were not announced, but Windstream said it intends to bundle DirecTV products with its Kinetic-branded high-speed internet services.
The new agreement arrives a few months after Windstream started to bundle DirecTV Now with its internet services. AT&T ended 2017 with 1.15 million DirecTV Now subscribers, adding 368,000 in Q4.
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Prior to this new deal, Windstream had also been reselling and bundling satellite TV services from Dish Network.
A Windstream official confirmed that the new DirecTV agreement has no effect on the ongoing sale, support and avaialbity of Kinetic TV, the company’s in-house, managed IPTV offering that uses Mediaroom, the platform that Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in 2013.
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Windstream’s Mediaroom-based Kinetic TV service is offered today in parts of North Carolina; Lincoln, Neb.; Lexington, Ky., and Sugar Land, Texas.
At the end of Q3, Windstream‘s ILEC consumer segment had 289,600 digital TV subs, down 12.1% from the year-ago period.
“DIRECTV offers a diversity of product choices that will be a great fit for our customers who want premium entertainment at great prices,” Jeff Small, president of Windstream's consumer and small business segment, said in a statement. “Our Kinetic by Windstream customers can now enjoy quality programming coupled with cutting-edge technology. This fits perfectly with our digital entertainment strategy.”
