Verizon (NYSE: VZ), looking to get ahead of the current video-on-demand pack, has strengthened its deals with Hollywood studios for more content and also negotiated a two-day viewing window on its FiOS TV platform.
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Last week Verizon began making 20th Century Fox content including X-Men: First Class (pictured) available. |
The telco late last week began making 20th Century Fox's X-Men: First Class available to subscribers and said more movies, ranging from Universal's Fast Five to Disney's Winnie the Pooh, would be available for 48-hour rental in the near future.
The extended window will, for the moment, differentiate Verizon VOD play from cable and satellite competitors, although Variety points out that that edge isn't likely to last for long; studios increasingly are seeing VOD as an important source of revenue for a decaying DVD revenue line and are expected to offer other service providers similar deals.
"We've been working with (the studios) to move into this direction for a while," Garrett Rieman, who manages on-demand programs for Verizon's FiOS TV, said. "It just makes sense."
Verizon will charge $4.99 for standard-definition fare and $5.99 for films in HD.
VOD saw almost $1 billion in revenue in the first half of 2011, coming in at $929 million, a 4 percent increase from a year ago, according to a Digital Entertainment Group study.
For more:
- see this Variety article
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