Verizon aims new 'Plus Play' as subscription hub for streaming era
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Verizon (VZ
+0.2%) has announced a "Plus Play" platform that it sees as a gateway for subscribers to manage a growing number of streaming services and other lifestyle subscriptions - notably including a partnership with Netflix (NFLX
-2.8%).
At its investor event, Verizon rolled out the plans for the offering that it plans to test with a small group of customers and partners by the end of the month and pursue a wider launch later in 2022.
It's setting up Plus Play as a mechanism for customers to find, buy and manage subs from partners including Netflix, Peloton, WW, A&E Networks, The Athletic, Calm, Duolingo, Vix Plus from TelevisaUnivision, and Live Nation's Veeps concert streaming service.
It's also allowing customers to use Plus Play to pay for and manage accounts on services it's already comping for many of them - Disney+, Hulu and ESPN+, as well as Discovery+ and AMC+.
In that sense, now that Verizon has exited original content (after selling off Verizon Media to Apollo), it appears to be looking toward a Roku (ROKU
-2.3%)-style gatekeeping strategy, or a way of bundling (and certainly drawing a share of revenues from) the new world of streaming.
On its 5G network, Verizon says it's a year ahead of goals on its faster "Ultra Wideband" network, expecting to reach 175 million people in 2022. It currently covers more than 100 million with the faster speeds enabled by its launch of C-band spectrum.