Viacom Lands Latin American Streaming Deal

Viacom has reached a streaming video deal with Telefonica to make some of its networks available to subscribers of the telecom company’s Movistar Play platform.

Under terms of the agreement, Movistar Play will carry live feeds of MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Comedy Central and Paramount Channel TV channels in the region beginning in the first semester of 2018.

A selection of Viacom’s mobile streaming apps – MTV Play, Nickelodeon Play, Comedy Central Play and Noggin – will also be available to Movistar Play subscribers, together with a broad range of content from the company’s brands that will be accessible on an on-demand basis through the platform.

This extends an existing carriage deal for Viacom International Media Networks Americas’ linear channels and VOD content already available on Telefónica’s pay TV services throughout the region.

“Mobile streaming is growing in popularity across Latin America – to stay in touch with our young audiences we need our brands and content to be everywhere they are,” said Viacom International Media Networks America senior vice president content distribution Rita Herring said in a statement. “We are very happy to extend our deal with Telefónica and add our channels, our content and our mobile products to their successful mobile TV offer through Movistar Play.”

The deal represents a global first for Viacom – the first deal of this kind struck directly with a mobile carrier to carry all its international flagship TV channels, as well as a selection of its mobile streaming apps and its VOD content.

Based in Spain, Telefonica is one of the largest telecom companies in the world, with a presence in 20 countries and about 344 million access lines globally.

“This new deal with Viacom will allow us to add its content to the selection of live channels available on Movistar Play, particularly Nickelodeon, MTV, Paramount and Comedy Central,” said Paula Figueroa, director of Telefónica’s LatAm Video Unit in a statement. As such, Movistar Play continues developing its offer of unmatchable content, which brings the best combination of high quality on-demand content with the best live programming to all screens in the region.”