Verizon Could Launch Wireless Video Offer by Year-End

NEW YORK - Verizon Communications could launch a wireless video service that allows pay TV subscribers to watch select content on mobile devices by the end of the year if regulators greenlight a proposed deal with cable operators, CEO Lowell McAdam told the Wall Street Journal.

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While subscribers of some cable firms can already watch some networks via mobile devices inside their home, cable players typically have no or fewer rights to provide video content  outside of homes, the paper highlighted.

An integrated wireless content service could be offered to subscribers of Verizon Wireless, Verizon's FiOS TV service and its cable partners Comcast, Time Warner Cable,  Bright House Networks and Cox Communications, which have agreed to sell the telecom giant wireless spectrum for $3.9 billion. Verizon is hoping to get regulatory approval from the FCC and the Department of Justice, but rivals and other critics have called the proposed deal anti-competitive.

McAdam signaled an interest in offering a la carte programming, which lets users pick and choose content they want to buy instead of charging them for the traditional bundles of pay TV channels.
"Most content providers realize that the number of channels and the layout that you have within your home may not be appropriate for the mobile environment, and those discussions are just beginning now," McAdam told the Journal. Some content companies "have come to us and have said,  'we are willing to do an a la carte approach here'," he added.

Large entertainment companies have generally opposed a la carte offers as they want to get as many of their networks carried and paid for.

Email: Georg.Szalai@thr.com

Twitter: @georgszalai