DirecTV Now Adds Starz With $8 Price Tag

Starz is available on AT&T’s new streaming service DirecTV Now for $8 a month, a higher price than what DirecTV Now is offering for HBO.

The $40-a-month DirecTV Now skinny bundle launched in December with HBO as a $5 add on. That price is significantly less than the $15 a month traditional pay-TV subscribers pay for the premium channel and below the wholesale cost of HBO to AT&T.

The new $8 Starz service on DirecTV Now includes  Starz SOD content, Starz Encore SVOD content and linear streams of Starz, Starz Encore and Starz Kids &Famiily. Comcast subscribers pay $10 a month for Starz. That’s on top of buying a bundle of basic cable channels.

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Starz Encore on DirecTV Now is included in the $70-a-month “Gotta Have It” package offered by DirecTV Now.

“With today’s launch on DirecTV Now, Starz is continuing to extend the reach of its flagship Starz products in the marketplace. The DirecTV Now offering is a terrific service for our collection of Starz Originals and quality feature film programming, which has proven to be very successful for the unmatched quality at an affordable price point,” said Jeffrey Hirsch, COO at Starz. “With DirecTV Now, AT&T is opening up barriers to entry that prevented a wide swath of audience from accessing our groundbreaking slate of originals and we are thrilled to work with them.”

Starz on DirecTV Now will feature more than 2,500 episodes and movies, including original series Outlander and Power.

“With the addition of Starz, we’re continuing to broaden the appeal of DirecTV Now, creating an unmatched entertainment experience,” said Dan York, chief content officer for AT&T.

Jon Lafayette

Jon has been business editor of Broadcasting+Cable since 2010. He focuses on revenue-generating activities, including advertising and distribution, as well as executive intrigue and merger and acquisition activity. Just about any story is fair game, if a dollar sign can make its way into the article. Before B+C, Jon covered the industry for TVWeek, Cable World, Electronic Media, Advertising Age and The New York Post. A native New Yorker, Jon is hiding in plain sight in the suburbs of Chicago.