DirecTV to launch online video offering

Satellite network operator DirecTV announced it is discussing an online video offering with MSOs that would be based on the TV Everywhere standards. DirecTV, which has 18 million video subscribers, would provide the offering behind an authentication wall.

The satellite company said it would use its own authentication technology, however, so that probably rules out thePlatform as the online video technology provider for DirecTV's competing offering. thePlatform is the online video provider for corporate parent Comcast and Time Warner Cable, the leaders of the TV Everywhere initiative. Though the company's spokesman refuses to comment on its role in TV Everywhere, thePlatform likely will be at the heart of Comcast's OnDemand Online web video trial, which began a limited rollout in July.

A DirecTV spokesperson told AdAge that its online video offering would be launched around the time the MSO's online video offerings are released, but declined to discuss specifics.

For more:
- see the AdAge article here 

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