ABC to help TV station affiliates compete in streaming world

ABC Television Group has unveiled an initiative aimed at helping its TV station affiliates better compete in a world where viewers are flocking to Internet streaming services.

Ben Sherwood, president of the ABC Television Group, on Monday announced the Clearinghouse initiative, which is designed to help ABC’s affiliated TV stations strike deals with distribution partners such as the Sony PlayStation Vue and DirecTV.

ABC’s affiliated TV stations, and stations owned by ABC, will be able to use pre-negotiated contracts with various distribution partners to cut out some of the red tape to simplify what has become a cumbersome process.

The goal is to make it easier for stations to have their programming included in the TV Everywhere platform. As part of TV Everywhere, pay-TV customers can stream video on their phones, tablets and computers as long as they can demonstrate they have a valid subscription to a pay-TV service such as DirecTV or Charter Communications.

The introduction of TV Everywhere has been slow, largely because of a tangle of ownership rights that has complicated the process. Hearst Television, which owns 14 ABC stations, will spearhead the pilot program with DirecTV this summer.

ABC made the announcement at the NAB Show, the annual convention of the National Assn. of Broadcasters in Las Vegas.

The network, in a statement, said it has “formulated the technical and distribution components of deals between the ABC owned television stations and DirecTV for the .... ABC TV Everywhere service and Sony PlayStation Vue.”

ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Co.

Disney shares on Monday closed up $2.89, or nearly 3%, to $101.48 a share.

Twitter: @MegJamesLAT