Diddy’s Revolt Picks Up DirecTV Distribution

AT&T has delivered an early Christmas present to Sean Combs in setting a DirecTV distribution pact for Revolt, the music mogul’s two-year-old cable channel. The deal calls for Revolt to be distributed broadly in DirecTV’s Xtra channel package of 220 networks. AT&T’s U-verse platform added Revolt about six months ago. Together, DirecTV and U-verse reach about 25 million subscribers. Adding DirecTV to the mix brings Revolt’s linear subscriber base to about 60 million homes. “Our new agreement with DirecTV is further proof we are on a fast track to revolutionizing the media industry,” said Combs, chairman of Revolt. “We are achieving what we set out to do 18 months ago — our programming is available on more screens, and our audience is bigger and more powerful than ever before.” Revolt focuses on music and lifestyle-centric programming. The launch on DirecTV is notable at a time when MVPDs are starting to take a harder line on carriage and fees for niche channels.