In the midst of a blackout on Altice cable systems, Starz announced that it signed a new agreement with Verizon’s Fios service.
Financial details of the new Starz-Fios deal were not disclosed. Starz described the pact as a multi-year agreement that extends to Fios TV affiliate agreement.
Starz, owned by Lionsgate, said Verizon will continue to offer the full complement of Starz offerings including premium pay-TV channels, on-demand and online services.
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“Verizon has done a tremendous job in selling our premium services to FiOS subscribers,” said Jeffrey Hirsch, COO for Starz. ”They are an industry leader in offering the best video content for its FiOS TV customers, and we look forward to working with them to enhance the premium experience for their Starz and Starz Encore subscribers.”
Starz has been blacked out on Altice systems since New Year’s Day, when their existing agreement expired and negotiation did not result in a new deal.
Starz claims that Altice wanted a drastic reduction in the price it pays for the channels because it is offering viewers an over-the-top option.
“As they have admitted repeatedly, Altice also wanted to penalize Starz for accommodating our next generation subscribers with a direct-to-consumer offering despite the fact that we have successfully reached agreements with our other carriage partners, linear and digital alike, in recent months,” Starz said.
