Verizon Communications Inc. will ask thousands of customers in the coming weeks to test out a new mobile-TV service, Go90, originally slated for introduction in June, though now pushed back to late summer.
Go90 -- named for the act of rotating your mobile device’s screen 90-degrees sideways for video viewing -- will debut within the next eight weeks and feature live TV, short clips and video-on-demand and original programming.
In introducing a beta version to certain customers first, Verizon is trying to avoid early technical disruptions like those encountered by Dish Network Corp.’s Sling TV during the college basketball tournament finals and the season debut of HBO’s Game of Thrones, when heavy traffic snarled service. Verizon wants to test the service’s features, such as sharing shows via social media, leaving nothing to chance.
“This is unlike any other system,” Alberto Canal, a Verizon spokesman, said in an interview. “This is a completely new product, and the beta piece is about testing the platform and some of the functions, like sharing.”
Verizon, the largest U.S. wireless carrier, is staking its future on sales growth from mobile services including streaming video aimed primarily at phone and tablet users.
Fran Shammo, the company’s chief financial officer, said last week on an earnings conference call that the service, while originally scheduled for mid-year, will have a limited start in late summer. Not all the pieces are in place, he said, and the initial launch will not be the full package. “As the year goes on, it will progress,” Shammo said.
The company has said it will experiment with free shows, ad-sponsored programming and subscription and pay-per-view models. Verizon acquired AOL Inc. last month for $4.4 billion for its mobile ad-placement technology.
Verizon has programming agreements with Viacom Inc., Scripps Networks Interactive Inc., ESPN, the National Football League, Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc., Awesomeness TV Inc. and Vice Media Inc.
Variety reported Friday that the service would be called Go90.
