Verizon (VZ) Drops Bloomberg TV On Carriage Fee Dispute

Verizon Communications Inc’s (NYSE:VZ) pay-TV customers have reportedly lost access to Bloomberg TV. Per sources, Verizon has declined Bloomberg’s proposal to pay for content, which is easily accessible online for free. Verizon has advised customers to subscribe to Bloomberg's website and app to access Bloomberg TV.

Verizon is one of the leading telecom service providers in the United States, which operates through wireless and wireline segments.

Headquartered in New York, Bloomberg TV or Bloomberg is a U.S.-based international cable and satellite business news television channel, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally to 310 million homes worldwide.

It is debatable if the companies will reach any solution, allowing the programming to be accessible to Verizon's customers.

The year has barely begun and the retransmission and carriage fee blackout problem continues to worsen. Altice USA Inc (NYSE:ATUS) and Starz Inc. have failed to ink a new programming deal on the eve of New Year. This led to the blackout of 17 Starz, StarzEncore and MoviePlex premium channels in Altice USA’s Optimum and Suddenlink cable TV services, since midnight Dec 31.

Frontier Communications Corporation’s (NASDAQ:FTR) FiOS customers in the Seattle area have reportedly lost access to Cox Media Group’s KIRO-TV programming. Per sources, the companies failed to extend a carriage deal, causing the blackout of CBS, Get TV and Laff TV programming.

Other Retransmission Conflicts

Conflict between TV broadcasters and pay-TV operators is not new in the United States.

In October 2017, Verizon dropped Univision Inc.’s Spanish language TV channels from its fiber-based FiOS TV network. Viacom and Charter Communications (NASDAQ:CHTR) are still holding discussions to reach a negotiation. In November 2017, DISH Network Corp (NASDAQ:DISH) inked a multi-year program licensing deal with CBS Corp (NYSE:CBS), after resolving a three-day blackout.

Zacks Rank & Price Performance

Currently, Verizon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Verizon portrays an impressive price performance. In the past six months, shares of Verizon have rallied 21.3% compared with the industry’s gain of 5.1%.

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