By Verizon is planning on rolling out a web-based television and movie streaming service sometime in 2012. The service will be available outside of their regular FIOS television and internet service, though I’d imagine current FIOS subscribers will have some sort of integration into the new system. Verizon has not officially announced this service as of yet, though, again, the word is that the service will be available during 2012. It will focus on a more limited selection than, say, Netflix, which will likely remain the undisputed champion of streaming content for some time, but there seems to be a wish for more targeted bundles of programming, specifically handling streaming for Disney Channel, for instance.
Now, this seems like a longshot, but consider this. FIOS already has five million subscribers. If less than half of those can be convinced to pick up this service, that’s an install base of one to two million people. That’s a lot of ducats, son. Additionally, if Verizon can acquire rights to a lot of programming that Netflix is missing, like Disney movies or the soon-to-be-lost Starz content, they could establish themselves as a legit contender to the throne pretty quickly.
[Via Reuters]