Verizon on Friday has overhauled its Custom TV bundles for Fios TV customers.
The service, which originally included seven bundle packs, will now offer two basic packages with add-on options.
The new bundles include an “Essentials” option that includes popular lifestyle, entertainment, culture and kids content from channels like Discovery Channel, Lifetime, History, Bravo, Fox News and others, as well as a “Sports and More” bundle that includes NBCSN, Fox Sports 1, ESPN, regional sports networks, and popular non-sports channels like Cartoon Network, CNBC and TNT.
The packages, which start at $55 per month alone or $69.99 as part of a triple play bundle with Fios Digital Voice and Fios Internet, can be supplemented with up to three additional genre-based packs for $6 each, Verizon said. Other available packs include the Movie Lovers Pack, the Kids Teens and Family Pack and the Global Sports Pack.
All packages come with the Fios TV Local package, which includes local broadcast channels and other local programming, Verizon said.
“The original Custom TV has proven very popular since we launched it last year, and we’ve incorporated our customers’ feedback to make the next generation of Custom TV even better with a simpler choice and a much wider variety of channels available,” said Verizon’s Consumer and Mass Business group president Tami Erwin.
Originally launched in April, Verizon’s Fios Custom TV offers consumers mini-bundles of channels in theme-based tiers.
The approach is modeled on a similar a la carte pick-and-pay service offered by Canadian MSOs several years ago.
Verizon’s launch of the service caused some blowback with ESPN, which filed a lawsuit against Verizon claiming the operator was in breach of its distribution contract with the sports network.
The spat, however, has not been confirmed as the reason for the bundle shakeup.