Verizon is expanding content available for its mobile TV service with the acquisition of a 24.5 percent stake in AwesomenessTV. Dreamworks Animation remains majority shareholder with 51 percent of AwesomenessTV, and Heart holds the remaining 24.5 percent. The Verizon investment values the media company at USD 650 million.
In addition to its equity investment, Verizon will enter into an agreement with AwesomenessTV to create a premium short-form mobile video service. The service will operate as a new and independent brand, and feature premium transactional content for a variety of audiences "on par with the highest-end content seen on television today", Verizon said. The new service will launch as part of Verizon's go90 mobile video service, and Verizon will fund the initiative through a multi-year agreement with AwesomenessTV.
Verizon said that AwesomenessTV has been able to zero in on the kind of content that Gen Z'ers and millennials want to watch, and content it's already produced for go90 has exceeded expectations, with shows such as Guidance and Top Five Live. The new premium content service will initially be exclusive to Verizon platforms in the US, while AwesomenessTV will retain the right to sell content in the rest of the world.
Source: http://www.telecompaper.com/news/verizon-buys-245-stake-in-awesomenesstv--1137134