Verizon and CBS Reach Long-Term Agreements

January 20, 2009

By Mike Peters

Verizon has announced it has reached comprehensive, long-term program carriage agreements with CBS. The agreements will bring new and expanded CBS programming to Verizon’s customers.

CBS Hit Shows Offered in Verizon TV Lineup

"We are extremely pleased to have reached this broad long-term agreement that recognizes the value of our programming," said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS. "Verizon subscribers will have continued access to the CBS network not only through FiOS TV, but also through V CAST on the mobile phone, which enhances our profile on a key emerging platform." "Verizon is focused on providing the most comprehensive and exciting entertainment to our customers across all our services and platforms," said John Harrobin, senior vice president of digital media for Verizon. "We're pleased to extend our relationship with CBS, which helps us deliver the hit shows and compelling content our customers want." Under the new agreement, Verizon has secured mobile rights for full episodes of several top-rated CBS entertainment and news programs, including shows from prime-time, daytime, and the long-running news program, "60 Minutes." Adding full episodes builds on the CBS content already available to Verizon Wireless V CAST subscribers.

Verizon to Offer Top-Rated CBS Shows in both Standard- and High-Definition

The expanded agreements also provide national video-on-demand rights for programs in both standard- (SD) and high-definition (HD) formats, including such leading shows as "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "NCIS," "Survivor," and "Numb3rs," as well as video-on-demand rights for local news, also in SD and HD. Verizon will continue to offer CBS programming on Verizon FiOS TV, its all-digital fiber-optic TV service, which is available in parts of 14 states, and reaches more than 1.6 million subscribers.