Verizon Readying Online Video Service That’s Unlike Any Other

Verizon is working on a new mobile and online video service which it claims will be unlike any other service that’s available right now, the company’s CFO  Fran Shammo says that they’re still busy with figuring out the business model and pricing. Currently the service is being referred to as OTT or over-the-top which isn’t the official moniker rather the method in which it will be provided to users: over the internet without a conventional cable subscription.

Shammo says that one of the models that Verizon is mulling includes not counting streaming usage against a user’s data allocation, it would use advertisements instead to subsidize it. This will appeal to people who are on limited data plans since video streaming can eviscerate data allocations.

Another model that the company is considering involves allowing the streaming data to eat into the allocation as well as another model through which it will charge subscribers for premium content.

The CFO did go on to say that “there is no one else out there who will deliver an OTT solution like the one we will launch,” without going into too many details about the differentiating factor between its upcoming service and the ones that are already available.

One of the reasons why Verizon is interested in this space is to generate revenue from advertising and it has already acquired AOL primarily for its ability to serve ads on mobile, seems like Verizon believes this can turn out to be a substantial revenue stream for the company.

No word as yet on when this OTT video streaming service will go live.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: General
Tags: Entertainment, Verizon