(Bloomberg) -- Now that Charter Communications Inc. has landed deals to include most of the major streaming TV services in its cable-TV packages, the company is gearing up for the next big hurdle: getting customers to stop cutting the cord.
The largest US cable-TV provider is planning a major marketing push next year to promote more than 10 streaming services that it will offer at no additional cost to customers — launching an ambitious strategy to head off cancellations and attract new subscribers.
The company is waiting until next year because it still has to integrate some of the apps into its system, according to Tom Montemagno, executive vice president of programming at Charter. In addition, the market is cluttered today with back-to-school and holiday offers for free streaming services by everyone from telephone companies to grocery stores.
In recent weeks, the Stamford, Connecticut-based company has signed deals with Comcast Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. to include the Peacock, Max and Discovery+ streaming services in its cable-TV packages. Others, such as the ad-supported versions of Disney+ and Paramount+, are already being offered.
Charter has said the streaming services would collectively cost $65 a month if customers subscribed to them individually. Spectrum, as Charter’s cable service is known, typically costs about $120 a month for more than 150 channels.
Like most cable and satellite-TV operators, Charter has been losing subscribers as consumers shift to online viewing. Chief Executive Officer Chris Winfrey has said it’s not fair for his customers pay twice for the same programming, once as a cable subscriber getting, say, NBC and then again for its sister Peacock streaming service. Including deals reached with Walt Disney Co. and Paramount Global, Charter has signed up most of the major streaming TV services offered by traditional media companies.
The company hasn’t disclosed details of its deals with the media companies, and they vary. In some cases, Charter will get streaming services for free. In others, the company will pay a wholesale rate per subscriber.
The deals for streaming services were all negotiated as part of new agreements for traditional broadcast and cable channels. Under a contract signed with Disney last year, Charter dropped eight less-watched channels, including Freeform and Disney Junior, and added the streaming services Disney+ and ESPN+.
In some instances, film and TV companies signed early renewal agreements with Charter, as a way to increase their streaming subscribers and slow cable-TV cancellations. Pay-TV subscribers are still a major revenue source for companies like Disney, Warner Bros. and Paramount.
Charter had 13.3 million video subscribers at the end of June, down nearly 10% from the same period last year.
The company doesn’t expect to include Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ at no cost in its cable-TV packages. Instead, Charter plans to negotiate deals to sell those services separately. The company’s internet subscribers, numbering over 30 million, could then subscribe to those services a la carte without paying for cable TV.
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