Aiming to expand beyond English-language programming for its FiOS IPTV offering, Verizon has cut a content deal with GlobeCast World TV, giving it the signal transport and licensing rights for up to 37 international channels in 18 languages from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The announcement was made today at the IPTV World conference in San Francisco.
Verizon has the ability to make the international content available to FiOS customers on both a linear and VoD basis. The GlobeCast unit plans to provide Verizon with access to 40 additional channels sometime next year.
“This deal is reflective of the evolution of the content model, where broadcast TV has hit the wall, and providers are looking to offer more personalized content,” said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corp. “International content is a low-hanging fruit for use during this evolution. The YouTube phenomenon represents a building consumer desire for fresh content rather than another generation of I Love Lucy reruns.”
Personalized content will become a top priority next year, Nolle predicted, as broadcasters “are running out of things to throw at consumers, who increasingly want content directly relevant to them.”
Providing multicultural programming is becoming a high priority as GlobeCast estimates 23 million people in the United States speak a primary language other than English or Spanish at home. The company claims it broadcasts 206 global TV and radio brands from 42 countries in 35 languages via cable, satellite broadband and mobile platforms.
Verizon FiOS TV provides a broad array of all-digital programming, two dozen high-definition channels, up to 3,000 on-demand titles and FiOS TV Widgets, which supplies one-touch, on-demand access to real-time local weather and traffic.
Its newest service, Home Media DVR, combines a multi-room digital video recorder with Media Manager, a feature that lets subscribers view photos and listen to music stored on their PCs through their TV. Verizon delivers FiOS TV over an all-fiber infrastructure.
GlobeCast World TV’s parent company, GlobeCast, is a subsidiary of France Telecom. The company said its presence includes 15 teleports and technical operations centers throughout Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East and the United States. It claims to manage and transport 10 million hours of video and other rich media annually.
GlobeCast www.globecast.com
Verizon www.verizon.com
