'TV Everywhere' Rights Are Part of NBC-Verizon Carriage Pact

NBCUniversal has struck a program carriage deal with Verizon FiOS that includes rights to over-the-top delivery to multiple screens.

The wide-ranging deal, announced Monday, includes retransmission-consent for NBC and Telemundo TV stations,  as well as its renewal for its portfolio of cable networks, including USA, E!, Bravo Media, CNBC, MSNBC,NBC Sports Network, Oxygen Media, Syfy, Telemundo Media and Golf Channel. TV Everywhere right are also part of the deal, which means Verizon can make that programming available for multiplatform viewing by authenticated subs.

"This comprehensive agreement benefits our viewers and Verizon’s FiOS TV customers by making programming available across NBCUniversal’s vast content portfolio wherever the viewer goes on any device,” said Matt Bond, executive vice president, content distribution, NBCUniversal, in a statement. “Verizon clearly understands and appreciates the value our stations, cable and Olympics content delivers to their subscribers. We look forward to continuing our long standing and mutually beneficial partnership and working closely together to develop new and innovative ways to engage subscribers.”

As part of its deal to create its joint venture with NBCU, Comcast, the nation's largest cable operators, promised to continue to make NBCU content available for online delivery by competing distributors. The deal follows a similar TV Everywhere carriage deal, also part of a broader agreement, struck with Suddenlink Communications last week and earlier in the month with Cablevision Systems.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.