Verizon Pitches Mobile Video
Verizon Communications Inc. Chief Executive Lowell C. McAdam said the company could have a wireless video service by year-end that lets pay-TV subscribers see some content on their mobile devices if regulators approve a proposed cable partnership.
Context & Ripple Effects
Verizon has pursued handset video for years, from talks to bring YouTube to V CAST in 2006 to a plan for television shows on cellphones in 2007. Its 2011 effort to challenge Netflix with a Web service extended that ambition beyond the carrier’s earlier mobile portal model.
The proposed service makes mobile viewing an extension of a subscriber’s existing pay-TV relationship rather than a standalone video product. Its availability is explicitly contingent on regulatory approval of Verizon’s proposed cable partnership.
First-order effects
- Verizon’s pay-TV subscribers would be the immediate audience for authenticated mobile access to some programming if the partnership is approved and the service launches.
- The proposed cable partnership becomes a prerequisite for Verizon’s video plan, putting regulatory approval at the center of its product timetable.
Second-order effects
- Cable partners would have to determine which programming rights can travel to subscribers’ mobile devices, making content access rather than network delivery the limiting product decision.
- Verizon’s Web-video effort and the proposed mobile service would give the company two routes into subscription video, increasing pressure to connect its broadband, wireless and pay-TV offerings.
Third-order effects
- If carrier-cable partnerships win approval, pay-TV competition shifts toward the portability of an existing subscription, with rights holders and distributors jointly defining where a customer can watch.
- The pattern points to video services being organized around authenticated access across screens rather than separate products for television, Web and mobile use.
The trend: Verizon’s proposal is part of the move from carrier-branded mobile clips toward pay-TV subscriptions that can be used across connected screens.