YouTube Strikes its First Mobile Distribution Deal with Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless is set to offer videos from YouTube.com to its V Cast Music service subscribers, the companies said yesterday.
YouTube will deliver a sampling of its most popular videos to Verizon subscribers in early December in what is YouTube’s first mobile distribution agreement. Verizon will feature a YouTube channel in its V Cast service. V Cast users can also upload videos shot on their handsets to YouTube.
“We are excited to launch our new mobile service and to partner with Verizon Wireless to bring YouTube videos to a new audience,” said Steve Chen, chief technology officer and co-founder of YouTube in a statement. “People want to be entertained in a way that fits their individual lifestyle.”
YouTube plans to roll out more partnership and features for mobile users next year.
Verizon Wireless customers pay $15.00 monthly or $3.00 daily for a V Cast VPak subscription. There are no airtime charges to stream or watch V Cast content. Verizon declined to comment on the number of V Cast subscribers it has.
Last month, Google acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion. In a statement issued at that time, Chad Hurley, CEO and co-founder of YouTube, said: “I’m confident that with this partnership we’ll have the flexibility and resources needed to pursue our goal of building the next-generation platform for serving media worldwide.”
