MCNBRIEFS

DirecTV, CBS Ink Carriage Deal

NEW YORK — CBS last week said it had reached a longterm carriage deal with DirecTV for its owned-andoperated television stations and cable networks CBS Sports Network, Showtime and Smithsonian Channel. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

It was the third such deal CBS has struck since August — it reached similar agreements with AT&T on Aug. 31 and Cablevision Systems on Sept. 5.

DirecTV had been in some high-profile carriage disputes earlier in the year, but this negotiation appeared to go without a hitch. There were no threats of blackouts or accusations of corporate greed that have come to normally characterize carriage negotiations.

ValueVision Names COO

MINNEAPOLIS — ValueVision Media, parent of cable shopping channel ShopNBC, has named Carol Steinberg as chief operating officer.

Steinberg has served as ValueVision’s executive vice president, Internet, marketing & human resources since June 2011 after having joined the company as senior vice president, e-commerce, marketing and business development in June 2009.

In connection with the promotion of Steinberg, ValueVision’s board approved an increase to her annualized base salary to $420,000 (from $325,000 in 2010, the latest figure available) and an increase to her target bonus opportunity equal to 65% of her base. She also received a grant of 30,000 shares of restricted stock, which will vest in equal installments over a two-year period.

Hulu Plus Adds Nickelodeon Content

NEW YORK — Viacom said last week that it has extended its content deal with streaming-video giant Hulu, making content from its Nickelodeon kids’ channel available on its Hulu Plus service.

Viacom already makes content from its Comedy Central, BET, MTV, Spike, TV Land and VH1 networks available on the subscription online service, which has more than 2 million subscribers. On Oct. 9, selected episodes of currently airing Nickelodeon live action and animated series, including iCarly, SpongeBob SquarePants, Kung Fu Panda, and the new season of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, will be available 21 days after the episodes air on television. Over the next few months, additional content from Viacom’s bilingual network, Tr3s, will be included.