For AT&T officials, their goal is simple: To deliver a rich entertainment customer experience–not a skinny bundle or limited service offering–on any device, anywhere their customers live, work, or play. To enhance its video customer experience, AT&T announced plans to acquire Quickplay Media, a leader in powering over-the-top (OTT) video and TV Everywhere services, from Madison Dearborn Partners.
The acquisition builds on the companies’ existing relationship. Quickplay’s platform currently supports AT&T’s U-verse TV Everywhere offering and will support the streaming offers — DIRECTV Now, DIRECTV Mobile and DIRECTV Preview — that AT&T plans to introduce later this year. These new plans will let viewers stream DIRECTV content over the Internet to virtually any device.
“Our strategy is to deliver video content however, whenever and wherever,” said John Stankey, CEO, AT&T Entertainment Group. “Quickplay’s multitenant IP distribution infrastructure, combined with AT&T’s leading scale in IP connected end points, will allow us to host and distribute all forms of video traffic. We intend to scale and operate an industry-leading video distribution platform, and viewers will get the high-quality online video viewing experience they desire.”
AT&T plans to retain Quickplay’s more than 350 employees and contractors.
“Quickplay’s talented team of people is critical to our success,” Stankey said. “Their knowledge and skills are a key part of executing our video strategy.”
AT&T plans for Quickplay to maintain its high level of service and continue to support and expand its global customer base, grow its managed platform services and continue to enable other companies — from video providers to content distributors — to deliver premium video to any device and over any network.
The deal allows AT&T to better design, implement, and distribute streaming video in a way that works seamlessly with its apps, maximizes its leading wireless network, and powers future generations of video delivered OTT.