AT&T Announces Quickplay Acquistion

DALLAS—Quickplay Media will now fall under the AT&T banner as the company has announced it plans to acquire the OTT video and TV Everywhere services provider from Madison Dearborn Partners. The two companies have a previous relationship, with Quickplay support AT&T’s U-Verse TV Everywhere offering. With the new partnership AT&T will use the Quickplay platform to support the DirecTV Now, DirecTV Mobile and DirecTV Preview streaming services that will be released later this year.

“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,” said John Stankey, CEO of AT&T Entertainment Group, in the company’s announcement. “We intend to scale and operate an industry-leading video distribution platform, and viewers will get the high-quality online viewing experience they desire.”

AT&T says it will retain Quickplay’s employees and contractors.

The transaction is subject to pre-merger review under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act in the U.S. and the Competition Act in Canada. AT&T and Quickplay expect the deal to close in mid-2016. No financial terms were disclosed.