A NEW SKINNY ON FIOS

Bundles reworked

Verizon Fios has rejiggered its “skinny” bundles in a move seen as an attempt to appease ESPN while still allowing subscribers to exclude the sports channels from the payTV operator’s basic lineup.

The new bundles, introduced on Sunday, are “Custom TV — Essentials” and “Custom TV — Sports & More.” Both are available for $69.99 a month as part of Verizon’s tripleplay packages.

“Essentials” targets nonsports fans with a lineup of broadcast channels and 78 cable networks devoted to entertainment, kids content, lifestyle and news. “Sports & More” serves sports fans with the broadcast channels and 59 generalinterest and sports cable channels, including ESPN, ESPN2 and localmarket regional sports networks.

The new plans simplify the “Custom TV” bundle Verizon introduced last April for $55 a month.

The original had a basic lineup of 35 channels and let subscribers add two of seven “genre” packages. The genres ranged from kids to news and included a sports package featuring ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, as well as a sportplus package with ESPNews.

ESPN sued Verizon over the original skinny bundles for using its channels in only two of the seven genres — or 29 percent — citing breach of contract.

With the new bundles, ESPN is in one of two “genre” packages — or 50 percent — in a move seen as a peace offering, although ESPN has yet to withdraw its suit.

“We are encouraged by the changes that Verizon has made to ‘Custom TV,’ ” the Disney unit said.

ESPN indicated the passing of “an olive branch,” said FBN Securities analyst Robert Routh. “Once you include the Disney Channel’s importance to Verizon, working together is clearly in the best interest of both parties.”

That ESPN charges nearly $7 a month per subscriber has it in the crosshairs of many cable companies worried about content costs and subscription losses.

Verizon’s “Essentials” is a response to those worries, but its being introduced at the same price as “Sports & More” raises the question of how long price parity can last.

“We continue to believe there are a significant number of US households that would give up on national sports networks if given the opportunity to save meaningful dollars,” BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield wrote in a Monday update.