Business

Verizon has been quietly buying up TV streaming rights: report

By
Reuters
Published March 31, 2017, 9:05 a.m. ET

The No. 1 U.S. wireless carrier Verizon Communications has been buying streaming rights from television network owners ahead of a nationwide launch of an online TV service, according to people familiar with the matter.

Verizon plans to sell a package with dozens of channels this year, the sources told Reuters.

The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The telecom giants’s move will be aimed at tackling the trend of “cord-cutting” — where customers move away from traditional cable TV to streaming services such as Netflix Inc and Amazon’s Prime Video.

Verizon’s rival AT&T Inc has an online streaming television service called DirecTV Now, while U.S. satellite TV provider Dish Network Corp in 2015 launched Sling TV, a streaming service.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg.