Strengthening its multicultural offerings, Verizon Communications reached an agreement with GlobeCast World TV to supply the telco’s FiOS TV and broadband platforms with an array of international channels.
Under the agreement, announced Wednesday at the IPTV World conference in San Francisco, Verizon will receive signal-transport and licensing rights from GlobeCast WorldTV to 37 international channels in 18 languages from Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
In addition to making the programming available on linear television, FiOS will also be able to present the product to its customers on a video-on-demand basis, according to the companies.
The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, also calls for GlobeCast WorldTV to provide FiOS with another 40 channels next year.
It was unclear which networks would be available to FiOS this year and next. A GlobeCast WorldTV spokeswoman said Verizon identified the number and types of networks it wants, but the channel lineup had not been finalized at press time.
A subsidiary of France Telecom’s global broadcast-distribution and content-management services company, GlobeCast, GlobeCast WorldTV is the largest aggregator and distributor of international television in North America, currently broadcasting 206 global television and radio brands from 42 countries in 35 languages via direct-to-home satellite, cable, Internet-protocol TV, broadband and mobile platforms.
