News
Verizon to Impose Monthly Sports Fee
By Swanni
Washington, D.C. (January 25,
2013) --
Verizon is joining DIRECTV in levying a monthly surcharge on
customers for regional sports channels, writes Multichannel
News.
The publication reports that Verizon next month will begin
charging new FiOS TV subscribers -- and customers who subscribe
month-to-month -- a $2.42 monthly fee for regional sports
networks.
DIRECTV last summer added a
$3 monthly sports fee
to the bills of new customers in roughly 20 percent of U.S.
markets. The fee was imposed in markets where there is more than
one regional sports channel, such as Los Angeles, which has
four.
Multichannel News said Verizon next month will impose the $2.42
monthly fee on customers in California, Texas and Florida and in
all remaining states except Maryland and Virginia in March.
(Maryland and Virginia residents will get the fee in April.)
Like DIRECTV, Verizon says the fee is necessary to offset the
rising costs of acquiring sports programming.
"Verizon has chosen a fee of
$2.42 per month to address the skyrocketing incremental sports
content costs associated with this popular programming,"
spokeswoman Heather Wilner told Multichannel News.
Unlike DIRECTV, Verizon plans to impose the fee in all markets
while the satcaster only includes it in the bills of roughly 20
percent of its audience. But DIRECTV CEO Mike White said
recently his company may expand that later this year.
Verizon this year announced another move to strike back at
rising sports costs. The telco
launched a new
non-sports package that includes 145 channels for $49.99 a
month. By removing the sports channels from the package, such as
ESPN, Verizon is able to keep the price of the monthly plan
relatively low. The sports channels are among the most expensive
in the industry, demanding high fees for their rights.
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