IPTV Programming Featured Article

Verizon Sells Starz Streaming Video Service

By Gary Kim, Contributing Editor

Starz Entertainment's new premium IP video service now is offered by Verizon (News - Alert) Communications. Under a multi-year carriage arrangement, Verizon will market the subscription-based Starz Play service to its 8.5 million broadband customers.             

 

Verizon is selling Starz Play for $5.99 per month, providing unlimited access to a library of about 2,500 movies and other video titles, including Ratatouille, Spider-Man 3, and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

 

The Starz Play subscription also includes access to a live stream of the linear Starz channel and allows users to share downloaded titles on up to three authorized devices.

 

Consumers can sign up for Starz Play through Verizon but access it from anywhere in the United States.

 

Starz Play is a subset of Starz Entertainment's direct-to-consumer Vongo video service, which officially got off the ground in January 2006 and today sells for $9.99 per month.

 

The move is interesting in that it is a major telco, not a major cable provider introducing the new service. But Starz has been among the more-creative programming networks for quite some time, if only because it has faced more cable distributor resistance than some of the other premium networks.

 

The distribution deal also is interesting in that it is an offer that provides one more interesting application to drive FiOS (News - Alert) Internet subscriptions, but also is an "over the top" service available to any broadband subscriber.

 

As such, the offering begins a more-important test of demand for "over the top" video as compared to the linear, packaged sort of video provided by Verizon, AT&T (News - Alert) and cable companies. At the same time, it is a further extension of "place shifting" and "time shifting" of video consumption.

 

Gary Kim (News - Alert) is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Gary’s articles, please visit his columnist page.

 

Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is Accelerating 3G Mobile Video Communications, brought to you by HP Software.

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