Netflix is going to get yet another competitor in the streaming video market, if a new report from Reuters is correct. The story, which uses unnamed sources, claims that Verizon is planning to launch such a service sometime in 2012. The company is reportedly talking with a number of possible but unnamed partners to help provide content for the service.
The story adds that the streaming video service would be made available only in the parts of the US where Verizon doesn"t operate its Verizon FiOS cable TV-Internet service. That still would allow 85 million US households to gain access to the service. One source claims the service will concentrate on providing a package of streaming feature films similar to what Netflix offers its subscribers with its partnership with the Epix pay cable movie service.
News that Verizon might be working on a streaming video service sent shares of Netflix down nearly three percent in trading today. The once high flying company has hit a number of road bumps in the last few months including losing its streaming deal with the Starz cable TV service and more importantly losing customers after Netflix decided to raise subscription prices up 60 percent for people who used both the streaming video and the DVD-by-mail rental services.