VERIZON OFFERING FREE NETFLIX FOR A YEAR

It used to be that cable providers enticed new subscribers by offering them a free year of HBO and/or Showtime if they signed up for a year or two. Now, Verizon FIOS is offering Netflix. In a promotion currently available only in the New York market, Verizon is offering an $89.99 "triple play" package that bundles Netflix for a year with 75Mbps broadband and a $150 Visa gift card. It does NOT include conventional broadcast and cable TV channels. In a statement to BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield, Verizon said that the trial is being offered only between October 22 and November 11. New York was chosen, it said, "for its highly competitive nature." Commented Greenfield, "With Netflix increasingly viewed as [an] important way to drive new subscribers, we wonder how long before US-based MVPDs [multichannel video programming distributors] integrate Netflix into their set-top boxes?"