• by Wayne Friedman , 9 hours ago

Completing its effort to reconfigure its product line and sell niche lower-cost, genre-specific bundles of linear TV networks, DirecTV has announced it will add ‘MyKids’ to its five other packages -- MySports, My Entertainment, MyNews, MiEspanol, and "MyCinema Mini Pack."

MyKids, which costs $19.99 a month, will include some 15 different channels including Paramount Global’s’ Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, Nick Jr. and TeenNick. Paramount’s recent deal with the pay TV provider was part of a broader carriage deal with DirecTV for about 20 networks and 15 CBS-owned TV stations, which will see networks and stations added into other genre-bundles.

Other kids networks already signed on include Walt Disney’s Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, and Disney+; and Warner Bros. Discovery’s Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and Discovery Family.

The package also includes independent channels such as BabyFirst TV, LooLooKids TV, and MeTV Toons.

MyKids adds to the list of genre-based DirecTV packages that also include "MySports" -- the most expensive package at $69.99/month -- featuring 25 major sports channels and over-the-air TV stations.

"MyEntertainment" is priced at $34.99/month, and features more than 40 entertainment networks including Paramount Network, MTV, A&E, Bravo, Discovery, E!, Food Network, FX, Freeform, HGTV, and others. It also includes streamers Disney+, Hulu Bundle Basic and Max Basic With Ads.

DirecTV’s "MyNews" package has more than 10 national news networks including CNN, CNBC, FOX News Channel, and MSNBC — plus select local news stations, for $39.99/month.

‘MiEspanol’ has more than 60 Spanish-language channels, and is priced at $34.99/month. And "MyCinema Mini Pack" features seven channels including Great American Family, Sony Movies, and Turner Classic Movies -- for $9.99/month.

With cord-cutting by subscribers now at 10% declines per year for legacy pay TV platforms, traditional pay TV services -- cable, satellite, and telco -- continue to change their businesses for a different marketplace, one where consumers feel more control to pick and choose the types of TV networks and streamers platform they want.

In part, this comes as consumers increasingly abandon expensive traditional cable TV, broadcast networks, and TV station bundles of 100 to 150 or more channels that cost $90 to $150 monthly.