Verizon CFO: Redbox Partnership Will Launch in August

28 Feb, 2012 By: Chris Tribbey

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Verizon considered a number of partners for an over-the-top video service, but it was Redbox’s customer base that convinced it to partner with the DVD kiosk company, Verizon Communications EVP and CFO Fran Shammo said at an investors conference.

Speaking at the Deutsche Bank Media and Telecommunications Conference, Shammo said Redbox brings something to the table that Verizon doesn’t have.

“They have something like 35,000 customers a day that visit their Redbox terminals in stores, so they have a very strong following,” he said. “And now this is a way for us to really utilize our strength in the FiOS content that we have, bring something to the table in a bundle with Redbox and then give that as an over-the-top play to their consumer.”

The new streaming service, announced in early February, calls for a subscription offering, with consumers paying a fee for both disc and digital. Shammo called the agreement “an offensive play but maybe also a defensive play at the same time.”

With more than 4 million FiOS video subscribers and more than 100 million wireless subscribers, Shammo said the joint venture would be pushed across numerous platforms.

“We are starting to see some major discussions with content providers on cost synergy,” he said. “… We’re looking at this as a content play for all of our platforms, not just for one.”

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