Verizon's mobile video service Go90 will launch late this summer, initially for free, with full TV show episodes from select networks on tap
Context & Ripple Effects
This launch announcement opened Verizon's push into ad-supported mobile video: Go90 shipped weeks later with free content from AOL, Awesomeness TV, Vice Media, and Viacom, per the follow-up report on the launch window and partner lineup. The bet was that a carrier could bundle full-network episodes behind its own app rather than license them to existing streamers.
The arc since has been rough. Verizon bought a $159M stake in AwesomenessTV to feed premium short-form into go90 (the 2016 investment), then planned a separate live-TV package that slipped repeatedly (delayed to Spring 2018) before the company pulled the plug on go90 entirely, returning show rights to production partners (the July 2018 shutdown).
First-order effects
- Networks like Viacom gain a free, ad-supported mobile storefront for full episodes without ceding rights to a competing subscription service.
- Verizon gets a video property it controls end-to-end, monetized through ads rather than subscriptions or data fees.
Second-order effects
- Unsatisfied with licensed supply, Verizon moves upstream into ownership, paying $159M for 24.5% of AwesomenessTV to secure short-form content made for go90.
- The ad-supported free tier proves insufficient, pushing Verizon to plan a separately sold live online TV package with dozens of channels — a second product layered on top of go90.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, carrier-built video platforms lose to dedicated streaming products: go90 is discontinued by mid-2018 and its content rights revert to the studios, while Verizon's replacement live-TV service keeps slipping past its own deadlines.
- Content suppliers retain leverage throughout — even after shutdown, shows return intact to their production partners, meaning carriers bear the platform risk while studios keep their catalogs.
The trend: Carrier-owned mobile video apps are collapsing under the weight of licensed-content economics, leaving telecoms to pivot toward standalone pay-TV packages rather than proprietary platforms.