Verizon has ambitions to deliver either a YouTube or Apple online TV service to households using its fast new 5G network, according to Bloomberg, citing a source familiar with the telco’s ambitions. Such a service would mark the first time Verizon had distributed a TV service beyond the East Coast, where it sells its fiber-based FiOS service.
Verizon intends to launch its 5G network service in Sacramento and Los Angeles and two other cities by the end of the year, and wants to bundle TV service with it. The programming would be delivered wirelessly to a 5G receiver in the subscriber’s home, and would help Verizon compete nationally against TV and internet service bundles from AT&T, Comcast, and others.
Bloomberg says the timing and prices for the video services are still being discussed, and that the plans could fall through all together.
Verizon is under pressure to offer a TV service now that rival AT&T bought Time Warner as a way of amassing content for its own TV offering. The company, which pulled the plug on its long-struggling streaming app Go90 last month, has also tried to develop its own over-the-top TV service. It gave up the effort earlier this year, reportedly over internal disagreements and difficulties acquiring content. That service would have competed with Dish’s Sling TV, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, and Google’s YouTube TV, which offers more than 60 channels of live TV for $40 a month. (Apple doesn’t offer a live TV streaming service.)
Google and Apple declined to comment on Bloomberg’s story.
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