AT&T acquires video streaming platform Quickplay to power its streaming TV services
AT&T announced this morning that it will acquire Quickplay Media, a video streaming platform that powers over-the-top video and “TV Everywhere†services that help its customers stream their video content to any device, including mobile phones. Deal terms were not disclosed, but the two already had an existing relationship. AT&T was using Quickplay for its U-verse TV Everywhere offering, and will use it with its forthcoming TV streaming services, DIRECTV Now, DIRECTV Mobile and DIRECTV Preview.
AT&T had previously unveiled its plans for its over-the-top streaming services, following its acquisition of DIRECTV back in 2015 for $48.5 billion, which made it the largest pay TV provider worldwide.
These services, due in the fourth quarter, will allow customers to stream DIRECTV online without an annual contract, satellite dish or set-top box. That will put AT&T in more direct competition with Dish, which runs streaming TV service Sling TV, as well as with Comcast’s Stream, Sony Playstation Vue, and even Hulu, which recently unveiled its own plans to offer a live TV service.
It makes sense, then, that AT&T would want to own the infrastructure that’s already powering a number of its offerings, both publicly available and in the works. Just as important, AT&T is retaining Quickplay’s talent – the company says that Quickplay’s more than 350 employees and contractors will join as a part of this deal.
Quickplay serviced a number of other customers besides AT&T including Verizon (disclosure: TechCrunch parent) and HOOQ, a joint venture between Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, and the Singtel Group. The company in the past had worked on other streaming services like one which brought TV shows to Blackberry, as well as Qualcomm’s FLO TV.
Bell and Rogers Communications in Canada, Samsung, Telus, Sirius XM, Vodafone, AccuWeather, Bloomberg Television and others, are also customers, according to the company’s website.
