Bright House Begins To Offer Epix

This is a nice — if predictable — pickup for Epix, which has been struggling to become a fixture on pay TV distributors’ premium channel lineups. Bright House is the No. 6 cable company, with about 2M video subscribers including a heavy concentration in Florida. But most of its carriage deals are handled by Time Warner Cable. And TWC gave a big boost to the Viacom-Lionsgate-MGM-owned service in March when it became the biggest pay TV operator to carry Epix. With a 90-day free introduction, Epix “has become one of Time Warner Cable’s most-watched networks,” Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer told analysts last week. Distributors including Comcast and DirecTV have questioned the need to offer a movie-oriented premium channel in addition to ones controlled by HBO, Showtime and Starz. (more…)