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ESPN Challenges Verizon’s New TV Packages

Apr 20, 2015  •  Post A Comment

ESPN is not happy with Verizon after the company unveiled new FiOS plans that reconfigure the traditional cable TV package.

The new Verizon FiOS plans became available to consumers Sunday. The Wall Street Journal reports that the new offering “will allow people to buy a slim package of channels including major broadcasters and cable networks like CNN and AMC, along with at least two channel packs of their choice in genres such as kids, news and sports. ESPN and ESPN 2 notably aren’t in the core package, but are offered in a separate sports tier.”

But ESPN is saying it didn’t sign off on the deal.

“In a statement late Friday, Walt Disney Co. ’s ESPN said such packages ‘would not be authorized by our existing agreements.’ ESPN said that Verizon doesn’t have the right to place ESPN or ESPN 2 into separate sports tiers that aren’t part of the core package,” WSJ reports.

The move by Verizon, designed to give consumers more choice, comes as cord cutting is already cutting into the reach of some cable channels.

The report adds: “A person familiar with ESPN’s thinking said Verizon may have released details about the new offering before contractual details were fully hammered out between the parties.”

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