Verizon, which recently purchased Yahoo, is all set to leverage the number of audience it now commands, to get into a brand new niche. The company hinted that it could launch an over-the-top streaming service as soon as the end of the year. This comes from none other than CEO Lowell McAdam, who made several remarks to the effect at a telecom conference in Boston.
The service is expected to arrive once the Yahoo acquisition closes, which could be anytime next month. So we can look out for Verizon’s streaming service sometimes in July. This particular service will be different from the company’s current, Go90 product. Verizon is also expected to leverage the combined 1.3 Billion+ user base enjoyed by AOL and Yahoo to test the new platform.
As for Go90, well, once its streaming service takes off, Verizon could well take an Axe to the largely unsuccessful service that has failed to build and sustain a user base. Apart from failing to get a user base which would stick to the programs it streams, it has also been unable to come up with any original content that could keep its users riled. Or maybe that is just enough people did not show interest in the service in the first place. Indeed, some industry analysts have gone so far so as to call it a dead service.
Verizon could of course, use the content languishing in G090’s vaults, unviewed, to bulk up its live TV offering. If Verizon did offer originals, that would put in squarely within the ranks of the few streaming service providers that do.
Considering that Go90 holds the rights to content from Rooster Teeth, BuzzFeed, Funny Or Die, CollegeHumor, Smosh, VICE, Elite Daily, Disney’s Maker Studios, AwesomenessTV and a bunch of other places, we can expect whatever streaming service Verizon comes up with to leverage these as well. And of course, any and all Verizon properties can live stream NFL. So that would be another big plus in the new service’s favor.
As per Variety, Verizon wouldn’t be averse to considering a M&A to jump start its streaming service either,
I’ll say this about M&A: There’s a lot more energy on Wall Street and in the media than there is in most businesses at this point. If there were an opportunity to accelerate the strategy, you should look at that.
