News and Analysis
Verizon has postponed launch of its live streaming service until at least the spring of 2018, reports Bloomberg News.
The telco, which has struggled of late to add subscribers to its FiOS TV service, hopes that the Net TV offering will allow it to generate more customers.
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However, Verizon has now delayed the start of the yet-to-be-named live streaming service at least twice while others such as Dish’s Sling TV, AT&T’s DIRECTV Now, Sony’s PlayStation Vue, Google’s YouTube TV and Hulu have all launched.
With the live streaming category getting increasingly crowded, it may be difficult for Verizon to be competitive when it does launch in the spring. That is, if it does launch in the spring. Bloomberg writes that the spring start date could be postponed as well.
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The news service says Verizon is having technology problems as well as experiencing difficulty getting carriage rights from the top channels for a live streaming offering.
The telco’s uncertainty with Net TV first surfaced a few years ago after it purchased the assets of Intel’s live streaming technology in 2014. Verizon said it would use the technology to start its own cable-like live streaming service, but then reversed course and launched Go90 instead.
Go90, a mobile-based, free streaming service that offers short videos and National Football League games, has struggled and Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam admitted last year that the company overhyped it.
The executive’s remarks caused some analysts to question Verizon’s long-term plans for Internet-based video, and today’s Bloomberg report isn’t likely to make them feel any better.
Those analysts will get a chance to probe further today after Verizon issues its third quarter earnings and performance report.
Update: Verizon reported today that it lost 18,000 net video subscribers in the third quarter, the third straight quarter it has lost video subs.
— Phillip Swann
Go90, a mobile-based, free streaming service that offers short videos and National Football League games, has struggled and Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam admitted last year that the company overhyped it.
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I was happy with Verizon FiOS service in Orange Co, CA but they made a bad decision a few years ago and sold it off to Frontier there losing tens of thousands of customers that way!
No wonder their subscriber numbers have dropped! Sell franchises and lose all your customers……..bad business decision!