Disney and Verizon Reach Licensing Agreement

Concerns were raised last week from television viewers when Verizon and Disney had admitted that they had still not renewed their licensing and broadcasting contract for next year. In order to maintain Fios’ broadcast of channels like ABC, ESPN, and the Disney Channel, Verizon needed to negotiate a new deal with Disney, and neither side was making concessions. Verizon was demanding large payments for Disney’s continued partnerships, while Disney wanted the inclusion of additional channels to make the deal more profitable for them. If a deal was not reached by New Year’s Day, the contract would expire, and those channels would go dark until a new agreement is reached. Sports fans were particularly vocal about the deal being completed; if ESPN went dark on New Year’s Day, after all, they would miss out on college football games.

Thankfully, everyone will get to watch kickoff tomorrow. Verizon and Disney have announced today that a deal has finally been reached. There are no official details on the deal available at the moment, but they will be released some time in the next few days. An official joint statement from both companies simply said that “Verizon and The Walt Disney Company have reached a broad-based distribution agreement.”

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5 years ago
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