Eighteen hours after a deadline that could have kept its customers
from seeing Mad Men, AT&T U-verse
said Thursday it reached a new carriage deal with Rainbow Media.
Rainbow, part of Cablevision Systems, owns AMC, IFC and WE tv. The agreement
with U-verse expired July 1, but was extended 14 days for negotiations, which
once they became public resulted in some testy public statements.
But once the agreement was reached, the parties were best friends again.
"We are happy to report that AMC, IFC and WE tv will remain on AT&T
U-verse," AT&T said in a statement. "We're very satisfied that we
were able to reach the fair deal we wanted for our customers - one that
includes the right content, across platforms, at prices that are in line with
the marketplace, and that helps us with important strategic content
initiatives. We are very grateful to our customers for their support."
Rainbow also released a statement: "We're pleased to have
reached an agreement with AT&T for AMC, WE tv, IFC and Sundance Channel
that truly recognizes the value of our networks. We look forward to continuing
our partnership with AT&T and are excited to continue to bring their
subscribers our award-winning programming, including the new season of AMC's Mad
Men on Sunday, July 25."
