Verizon FiOS can go with the flow

Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) big news this week clearly was its planned divestiture of 4.8 million access lines to Frontier Communications (NYSE: FTR), which if it closes will bring the FiOS network to 67% of Verizon's total local access territory. In addition to its expansion plans, however, the Tier 1 carrier also gave Streaming Media East conference attendees a bit more insight into what it plans to do with its FiOS TV network in the very near future. 

At the conference this week in New York, Joe Ambeault, director of product development for consumer TV for Verizon, said the carrier will make more than 7 million Web video clips available to FiOS TV customers within this quarter. The content will be drawn from blip.tv, Dailymotion and Veoh Networks, and it will be accessible on the PC through Verizon's Media Manager software. In addition, Verizon is making good on its promise to bring Facebook and Twitter to the big screen in a closed alpha trial. The upgrades also will come with a new interactive media guide for search and discovery.

Interactivity on the TV set has been a long-time strategic goal of Verizon's, as Ambeault has outlined to Telephony in the past. He said that, unlike some of its competitors, Verizon built its platform from the outset to support interactivity. That also is why the operator can afford to experiment on its own without looking to a third party to bring in over-the-top (OTT) content. Advertising won't be part of Verizon's initial OTT-friendly model, but it's something the operator is exploring, Ambeault said in his Streaming Media East keynote.

Verizon is taking the perfect attitude toward OTT content, interactivity and experimentation with its FiOS TV service. Nothing is off the table and rather than wait and see what consumers demand, it is willing to throw some ideas out there and see what sticks. If Facebook and Twitter bomb, like Ambeault admits its first fantasy football attempt did, who cares? Verizon seems genuinely open to listening to feedback, figuring out why things don't work and moving on from there.

This attitude is especially important when it comes to OTT. Despite preconceived notions about consumer viewing habits based on age, studies have shown that it isn't only young people flocking to the Internet while the older generation clings to their TV sets. And it's also not an either-or proposition. Consumers will watch TV on their TV set or on their PC, and they'll watch Internet content on their PC and most likely on their TV, too. At this early point in the game, all that is really clear is that the best approach might be for operators, like Verizon, to practice flexibility, trial and error and, most of all, just going with the flow.

Email me at sreedy@telephonyonline.com.