It’s no secret that Viacom is no fan of cord cutting services such as Hulu or PlayStation Vue. Recently it pulled its channels from both services and has decided against adding its channels to YouTube TV. Now once again Viacom, which owns channels such as Spike, BET, CMT, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon, is pushing back against streaming.
During this week’s earnings call Viacom’s CEO Bob Bakish said that video on-demand services and skinny bundles are important but that we have to be careful we’re “not creating inexpensive opportunities to serve as an alternative.”
This is not a new trend for Viacom. A few months ago it said it plans to do what it can to reinforce traditional pay-TV services; however, there is one area it may be open to a skinny bundle.
During the call Viacom’s CEO talked about the option of a sports-free streaming service/cable package and even named Charter as a service looking at offering that as an option. During his conversation about sports-free services he said, “We fundamentally believe a lower-price offering would be very compelling,” said Bakish, adding that it would likely not involve all of Viacom’s channels.
Nothing coming from Viacom shows a willingness to join up with new services such as YouTube TV or Hulu. Also it is unlikely you will see Viacom channels coming back to PlayStation Vue. For now it seems the current leader of Viacom is going to do what they can to keep traditional pay TV strong.
The question is how long can Viacom be one of the last TV networks not to jump on the cord cutting bandwagon. Even Comcast and Verizon are making movies to becoming more cord cutting friendly.
Source: FierceCable
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