Verizon, HBO sign content distribution agreement that will include mobile video platform
Verizon Communications’ video plans are set to receive a premium-channel boost as the telecom giant announced a “broad agreement” with Home Box Office that allows Verizon to distribute HBO content through Verizon digital platforms, including future plans through its mobile video platform.
The deal includes access to HBO’s Internet-only service HBO Now, which will be immediately available to Verizon’s standalone broadband customers for a free 30-day trial. That access includes the HBO Now mobile application that is compatible with Apple’s iOS, Apple TV, Google’s Android platform and Amazon.com’s Fire Tablet. After the trial, the service will run $15 per month.
During a recent quarterly results conference call, Verizon executives made numerous references to its planned mobile-first video service that it expects to launch later this summer. Variety reported the mobile platform will be dubbed Go90.
The platform is set to take advantage of several technologies and acquisitions Verizon has conducted over the past several years. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said the initial launch will be somewhat limited, with plans to bolster the offering as it rolls out. The company has already signed content deals with a number of providers, including DreamWorks, AwesomenessTV, Vice Media and Scripps, with additional content available through its AOL acquisition that included The Huffington Post and TechCrunch.
“This is a lineup that is really around all live-type news clips and sports and events, so very different than what anyone else is bringing to the marketplace,” Shammo explained.
The video service also is expected to take advantage of its LTE Multicast technology, which Verizon has been trialing for a couple of years at major sporting events. The technology allows the one-way streaming of video content to multiple devices using a smaller section of wireless spectrum than current video-streaming services.
Shammo said that all new smartphones sold beginning late last year are embedded with multicast support, except for Apple’s iPhone lineup.
The HBO deal comes days after rival AT&T closed on its $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV, which is expected to become the lynchpin of AT&T’s video activities. AT&T has moved the DirecTV operations under its newly formed Entertainment & Internet Services business, which will include DirecTV and AT&T Home Solutions operations. Former AT&T CSO John Stankey was named head of the new unit.
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