Verizon is reportedly considering expanding its partnership with Apple and Google to more of its pay TV and wireless subscribers, not just its 5G customers.
Earlier this year, Verizon announced a deal in which its 5G in-home, fixed wireless customers would receive either a 4K Apple TV streaming device or a limited period of free access to YouTube TV.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Verizon is now looking at opening up that deal to more of its customers while also including some of the content from its Oath brands. An announcement regarding the plans could be coming as soon as this month.
The potential move further illustrates Verizon’s shift toward focusing its energy on its network under new CEO Hans Vestberg.
Former CEO Lowell McAdam earlier this year touted Verizon’s 5G network and said several major media companies were excited about the potential.
“It’s our belief that we’re positioned perfectly to have the partnerships that we need to be successful. We’re not going to be owning content so we’re not going to be competing with other content providers. We’re going to be their best partner from a distribution perspective and I think that makes great sense for the company going forward,” McAdam said during his company’s second-quarter earnings call.
RELATED: With YouTube TV deal, Verizon reconfirms it doesn't need content
The possible deal could also brighten the outlook for Oath, which said it no longer expects to meet its previously stated revenue targets after third-quarter revenues fell nearly 7%.
“Because search and desktop products make up the majority of the Oath business, and we believe pressure in those sectors is likely to continue, we do not expect to meet our previous target of $10 billion of revenue in 2020. The leadership team at Oath is focused on returning to revenue growth by completing the integration of the legacy AOL and Yahoo advertising platforms by year end, implementing initiatives to realize synergies across all of our media assets, and building services around our core content pillars of sports, news, finance and entertainment,” said Verizon CEO Matt Ellis during the company’s most-recent earnings call.