VIAC stock confirmed a rejection at resistance on January 21, 2022, after the company renewed a distribution agreement with Nexstar.
VIACOMCBS AND NEXSTAR MEDIA GROUP RENEW AFFILIATION AGREEMENTS
On January 21, 2022, ViacomCBS (NASDAQ: VIACA, VIAC) and Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NXST) (“Nexstar”) announced that Nexstar’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Nexstar Media Inc., and its operating partners have reached comprehensive multi-year agreements to renew the existing CBS Television Network affiliations in 39 markets across the country. The 39 markets combined reach 14% of the U.S. audience, serving 17.4 million television households. Following three affiliation agreements that were renewed early last year, this agreement completes all of ViacomCBS and Nexstar’s affiliation renewals.
Nexstar’s CBS affiliates will continue to be locally available to subscribers on Paramount+ and widely distributed across vMVPD platforms.
Commenting on the agreement, Tom Carter, Nexstar President and Chief Operating Officer said, “We are extremely pleased to once again extend our partnership with ViacomCBS and the CBS Television Network on a long-term basis. These new agreements recognize the value of the network’s news, sports, and entertainment programming, and reflect the importance of our stations to CBS and to the viewers of the local communities we serve.
“CBS Television’s strong programming lineup, including the CBS Evening News with Norah O’Donnell and 60 Minutes, primetime hits such as Young Sheldon, FBI and NCIS, and highly-rated live sports including NFL Football and the NCAA College Basketball Tournament, are an excellent complement to the high-quality local news and exclusive content produced by our stations. Together, Nexstar and CBS deliver a great value proposition for our viewers and an excellent advertising platform for our local and national clients.”
“We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Nexstar that includes several early renewals of our CBS network affiliations,” said Ray Hopkins, President, U.S. Networks Distribution, ViacomCBS. “This deal demonstrates the power of our collective partnership and our commitment to maintaining strong relationships in order to best serve audiences across the country with leading content.”
The agreement includes renewals for the following CBS affiliates: KTAB in Abilene, TX; KRQE in Albuquerque, NM; WIAT in Birmingham, AL; WVNS in Bluefield-Beckley, WV; WIVB in Buffalo, NY; WCIA in Champaign, IL; WRBL in Columbus, GA; KGPE in Fresno, CA; WANE in Ft. Wayne, IN; KREX in Grand Junction, CO; WFRV in Green Bay, WI; WNCT in Greenville, NC; WSPA in Greenville, SC; KVEO in Harlingen, TX; WHLT in Hattiesburg, MS; WHNT in Huntsville, AL; WTTV in Indianapolis, IN; WJTV in Jackson, MS; WTAJ in Johnstown, PA; KLFY in Lafayette, LA; WLNS in Lansing, MI; KLAS in Las Vegas, NV; KLBK in Lubbock, TX; WREG in Memphis, TN; KXMC in Minot, ND; WKRG in Mobile, AL; WBTW in Myrtle Beach, SC; WMBD in Peoria, IL; KOIN in Portland, OR; WPRI in Providence, RI; WNCN in Raleigh, NC; KCLO in Rapid City, SD; WROC in Rochester, NY; KLST in San Angelo, TX; KELO in Sioux Falls, SD; WJHL in Tri-Cities, TN-VA; and WKBN in Youngstown, OH. The deal also includes two stations owned by Mission Broadcasting, Inc. and operated by Nexstar, KOLR in Springfield, MO and WYOU in Wilkes Barre, PA.
ViacomCBS price target lowered to $45 from $80 at Needham
Needham analyst Laura Martin lowered the firm’s price target on ViacomCBS to $45 from $80 but keeps a Buy rating on the shares. The analyst highlights broader concerns for names under her Streaming and AdTech coverage that drove multiple compression last year and in 2022-to-date, namely tougher comps, chip shortages, supply chain pressures, omicron variant slowing digital ad growth, and rising interest rates, even though she views the first four as being “short-lived and cyclical/temporary”.
ViacomCBS and Comcast Announce Content Distribution Agreements
On January 13, 2022, ViacomCBS Inc. and Comcast Cable today announced the companies have reached comprehensive distribution agreements to deliver ViacomCBS’ full portfolio of broadcast, entertainment, news, and sports programming to Xfinity customers.
The multi-year deal features renewed carriage of ViacomCBS’ networks – including CBS Television Network, BET, CBS Sports Network, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Paramount Network, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel, SHOWTIME®, and others — in addition to extending the availability of ViacomCBS’ popular streaming services Paramount+, Pluto TV and SHOWTIME OTT, as well as expanding Comcast’s rights to include BET+.
“We are pleased to have reached new agreements that strengthen our long-valued partnership with Comcast,” said Ray Hopkins, President, U.S. Networks Distribution, ViacomCBS. “ViacomCBS is a cornerstone content provider, and we look forward to serving millions of Xfinity customers with greater access to their favorite channels and programming from our leading brands.”
“ViacomCBS continues to be a great partner, and we are very pleased to provide our Xfinity customers with access to their content across our industry-leading platforms,” said Rebecca Heap, Senior Vice President, Consumer Products & Propositions, Comcast Cable.
Xfinity delivers all the best live, on demand and streaming entertainment to customers via its X1 and Flex devices, all accessible and discoverable with the award-winning Xfinity Voice Remote. X1 and Flex customers can access ViacomCBS programming by saying the name of a channel (like “CBS” or “BET” or “SHOWTIME”) or streaming services (like “Paramount+” or “Pluto TV”) in the voice remote, or by saying the name of a desired title from the ViacomCBS channels or streaming services.
CommScope, ViacomCBS partner on content distribution migration
On January 13, 2022, CommScope (COMM) and ViacomCBS (VIAC) announced that ViacomCBS launched FAVE and migrated its DABL and select Showtime linear channels from satellite to Content Delivery Network, or CDN, IP distribution using the CommScope DigiCipher Streaming system. The migration represents the first ViacomCBS services to be fully transitioned from satellite to CDN IP-leveraging existing CDN IP infrastructure for service distribution to CBS broadcast stations, DABL affiliates, and Showtime MVPDs throughout their U.S. footprint instead of traditional satellite delivery.
📺 Buy or Sell with Sanctuary Wealth CIO Jeff Kilburg: Penn National and ViacomCBS
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbeKrWEgiKo[/embedyt]📉 VIAC Stock Technical Analysis
The short-term trend is positive, while the long-term trend is neutral. So this is evolving in the right direction. VIAC is one of the lesser performing stocks in the Media industry. 65% of 93 stocks in the same industry do better. VIAC is currently trading near the lower end of its 52-week range, which is not a good sign. The S&P500 Index is trading in the upper part of its 52-week range, so VIAC is lagging the market.
There is support at 30.48 from a trend line in the weekly time frame. There is also support at 29.52 from a horizontal line in the weekly time frame.
There is a resistance zone ranging from 36.62 to 36.83. This zone is formed by a combination of multiple trend lines in multiple time frames. There is also resistance at 37.55 from a horizontal line in the daily time frame.
VIAC has an average technical rating and it also does not offer a high quality setup at the moment. NFLX stock has a Setup Rating of 3 out of 10. Price movement has been a little bit too volatile to find a nice entry and exit point. It is probably a good idea to wait for a consolidation first. Click here to sign up for email alerts on when NFLX stock consolidates and has a Setup Rating of 8 or better.
