NEW YORK — According to MoffettNathanson Media Analyst Michael Nathanson, there was much uncertainty heading into the AT&T-owned DirecTV renewal negotiations for a company he thinks will reunify with CBS Corporation by year’s end, Viacom.
“While we will likely never know the exact terms of the renewed distribution agreement, we do know for sure that Viacom’s networks never went dark while remaining on the old DirecTV Now packages and getting added to the new DirecTV Now Plus and Max offerings,” he says.
Given that the renewal happened at the end of March, the impact wasn’t fully evident in Viacom’s Q2 2019 results. As such, fiscal 2019 is now “a tale of two halves” for Viacom, he says.
