ESPN reached a settlement with Verizon on Wednesday over the FiOS bundle Internet access cable. Verizon offered two ESPN programs as separate package while the contract between the companies required the ESPN1 and ESPN 2 to be carried as part of basic service. ESPN considered that as a breaching of contract and filed a lawsuit in April 2015.
Now both sides as The Verge reported have settled their disagreement but specific terms will remain confidential. ESPN and Verizon mutually understand that they need each other and they have issued a public release statement regarding that.
"ESPN is an important partner of ours. We look forward to working with them to provide great content to consumers for years to come," said Terry Danson the vice president of content strategy and acquisition at Verizon.
"We look forward to further collaborating with them to deliver customers content across all of our platforms," said senior vice president for affiliate sales for the Disney and ESPN media networks Sean Breen in a statement as quoted by New York Times.
The issue began when Verizon offered its Custom TV to encounter Internet TV services. The company offers basic bundle package for $55 and allow subscribers to choose additional contents with extra fees. Verizon divided ESPN1 and ESPN2 into two separate sport programs which upset ESPN, because that violated distribution agreement between Verizon and Disney the parent company of ESPN.
Afterward ESPN filed a lawsuit in in New York Supreme Court in April 2015. In its statement following the lawsuit ESPN required Verizon to comply to agreements between them. ESPN confirmed its position to be at the forefront to embrace innovative ways in delivering high-quality content and value to consumers on multipe platforms.
ESPN is known to be the most expensive cable network, which according to USA Today, collecting nearly $7 per subscriber. While consumers now choose to abandon the pay-TV providers to choose lower-price Internet TV service such as Netflix, Hulu and Sling TV. Verizon encounter the customer's exodus by offering its "skinny bundle."
In its defense against the ESPN lawsuit Verizon said, "Consumers have spoken loud and clear that they want choice and the industry should be focused on giving consumers what they want."
Last February Verizon revised its program and offering a $65 monthly fees. It consist of the basic package which has the most popular channel including CNN, HGTV, AMC and Food Network, without sports networks, while Sports & More package contains all sport channels. Consumers can add additional channel package for $6 each.
ESPN reaches a settlement with Verizon this Wednesday over the FiOS bundle Internet access cable. After a year-long legal battle over breach of carriage contract, the companies ended their dispute in undisclosed terms.
