Verizon gets NBCU everywhere

NBCUniversal (NBCU) and Verizon have reached a deal that will make the former’s full range of broadcast and cable networks available via the US telco’s FiOS IPTV service.

The wide-ranging pact will come into effect early next year when Verizon’s FiOS TV subscribers – currently numbering about 4.5 million – will gain live and on-demand access to the entire NBCU channels bouquet.

The ‘TV Everywhere’ deal spans USA, Bravo Media, cloo, Chiller, CNBC, E!, G4, MSNBC, mun2, NBC Sports Network, Oxygen Media, Style Media, Syfy, Telemundo Media and Golf Channel, as well as retransmission consent for local NBCU- and Telemundo-owned stations.

The arrangement also hands Verizon the right to carry a variety of local sports networks operated by NBCU majority shareholder Comcast, as well as NBC’s coverage of the next Olympic Games in 2016.

Regulatory approval for Comcast’s merger with NBCU in 2011 depended upon it making the latter’s content available online to third parties in this way. A similar deal with Comcast rival Cablevision was signed last month.