|
ESPN, a unit of Walt Disney Co, said in a legal document sent to
the Supreme Court of New York State that Verizon violated its
obligations "under certain license agreements" and it wants
Verizon to pay.
The dispute involves Verizon's new pay TV plan, offering
consumers a slimmer package of channels targeting genre-specific
packages such as sports, kids or news. In traditional
subscriptions, customers pay for a large group of networks that
often include ESPN.
ESPN and other media companies with a lot of sports content say
the package violates their contracts with Verizon.
A Verizon spokesman said the company is in compliance of
existing agreements.
"Consumers have spoken loud and clear that they want choice and
the industry should be focused on what the consumer wants and
giving them what they want," A Verizon spokesman said.
ESPN said in a statement, "ESPN is at the forefront of embracing
innovative ways to deliver high-quality content and value to
consumers on multiple platforms, but that must be done in
compliance with our agreements. We simply ask that Verizon abide
by the terms of our contracts."
Twenty-First Century Fox <FOXA.O> and Comcast's <CMCSA.O> NBC
Universal also said last week that the new Verizon offering
violated the terms of their contracts.
It was unclear whether Fox and NBC planned to follow ESPN's lead
and file suit.
A spokeswoman for NBC declined to comment. A spokesman for Fox
was not immediately available to comment.
(Reporting by Jennifer Saba and Malathi Nayak in New York and
Subrat Patnaik in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and David
Gregorio)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
