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DirecTV adds support for Disney-backed licensing consortium Movies Anywhere

The partnership allows titles purchased through DirecTV boxes to be made available on other hardware and streaming services.

The partnership allows titles purchased through DirecTV boxes to be made available on other hardware and streaming services.

(Image: AT&T/Handout, Graphic: The Desk)

Satellite television service DirecTV has announced support for Movies Anywhere, a Disney-backed content licensing consortium that allows customers to watch purchased movies across different services and devices.

On Monday, the AT&T-owned satellite giant said it now allows customers who purchase certain movies through their DirecTV boxes to watch those titles on other devices when they connect their DirecTV hardware to a Movies Anywhere account.

The Movies Anywhere standard supports Comcast‘s XFinity and Verizon‘s Fios hardware as well as digital retailers operated by Apple, Google, Amazon and Microsoft, including iTunes and YouTube. Supported titles purchased at any of those retailers are available to stream on Movies Anywhere-connected DirecTV boxes and vice versa.

Movies produced or distributed by Disney, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures and Sony Pictures are supported by the Movies Anywhere standard.

“We are thrilled to be able to expand our availability within the pay TV ecosystem with the addition of another one of the nation’s largest providers,” Karin Gilford, an executive in charge of Movies Anywhere, said in a statement issued to reporters on Monday. “Now, [DirecTV subscribers] can access their collection across a multitude of devices using the Movies Anywhere app or the DirecTV platform.”

The Movies Anywhere app is supported on smart TV hardware manufactured by Roku, Amazon, Apple, Google, LG, Vizio and Nvidia as well as phones and tablets manufactured by Apple, Amazon and Google.

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About the Author:

Matthew Keys

Matthew Keys is an award-winning journalist with more than 10 years of experience covering the business of television and radio broadcasting, streaming services and the overall media industry. In addition to his work as publisher of The Desk, Matthew contributes regularly to StreamTV Insider and KnowTechie, and has worked for several well-known news organizations, including Thomson Reuters, McNaughton Newspapers, Grasswire, Comstock's magazine, KTXL-TV and KGO-TV. Matthew is a member of IRE, a trade organization for investigative reporters and editors, and is based in Northern California.

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