Verizon is shutting down go90; sources say it will be discontinued by July 31 and that shows and all content rights will be returned to production partners
Verizon is finally calling it quits on its expensive mobile video bet, Go90. — The wireless communications giant is shutting …
Context & Ripple Effects
Go90 was Verizon's attempt to own mobile video rather than just carry it: a free ad-supported service launched in 2015 with shows from AOL, Vice Media, Viacom, and AwesomenessTV, backed by a $159M minority stake in AwesomenessTV itself. The bet never found an audience — Verizon spent over $200M on programming but stumbled on discovery, then cut 155 staff in early 2017 and handed a rebuild to the Vessel team it had acquired.
The shutdown closes that arc. Rights reverting to production partners unwinds the licensing structure piece by piece, and it lands just as Verizon pursues a different video strategy: a live online TV package with dozens of channels sold separately from go90.
First-order effects
- Production partners including Viacom, Vice Media, and AwesomenessTV get their shows and full content rights returned by July 31, regaining control of libraries they licensed into a platform that never delivered scale.
- Verizon exits original mobile video entirely, abandoning the ad-supported short-form model after more than $200M in programming spend and two restructurings failed to fix discovery.
Second-order effects
- AwesomenessTV loses its flagship distribution outlet — Verizon's 24.5% stake made go90 the planned home for premium short-form mobile video, so the shutdown forces the studio to find new carriers for inventory built around that deal.
- Verizon's pivot concentrates its video effort on the separately planned live TV package, shifting competition from ad-supported free streaming toward pay-TV bundles where network partners are suppliers rather than co-investors.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, rights-reversion clauses become the safety valve that lets short-form producers survive carrier platform failures — studios keep ownership while distributors absorb the write-downs, discouraging exclusive licensing to single-carrier services.
- The failure reinforces a structural split between connectivity businesses and content businesses at telecoms: Verizon's capital moves toward infrastructure plays like fiber deals, leaving media distribution to companies whose core competency is programming.
The trend: Carrier-built streaming platforms are unwinding back toward pure connectivity businesses, with content rights reverting to the studios as telecoms retreat from owning distribution.