Verizon Wireless postpaid customers will now be able to stream go90 videos on LTE without worrying about using up their precious data, the company announced on Thursday.
How? The U.S. carrier's Go90 Mobile TV Network has taken the zero rating route, following in the footsteps of T-Mobile's Binge On.
"Starting today, all go90-registered Verizon Wireless postpaid customers can watch all of their favorite go90 video content anytime, on Verizon's LTE network as part of go90's participation in FreeBee Data 360's sponsored data service," says the company.
The FreeBee Data 360 program enables content providers to pay so that customers get zero-rated data. The updated version of the go90 app is linked to the sponsored data service i.e. FreeBee Data 360.
The carrier also updated the iOS and Android app for go90 on Friday, which brings the new feature.
"If you're a Verizon Wireless postpaid customer, stream Go90 videos over LTE without using up your data," notes the app update.
The content that will be available to Verizon customers in line with this promo includes concerts, live sports, TV shows and more. The go90 app is free, but comes with ads. Some content on the app is exclusive to subscribers of Verizon, but it does offer videos from IGN, DreamWorks TV, Comedy Central, Nerdist, Icon Network and the NBA.
On the face of it, the go90 zero-rating from Verizon Wireless sounds like a fantastic deal for consumers. What can be better than watching several videos for free and not worry about the data cap being surpassed or exhausted, right?
However, it seems that Verizon's attempt to offer zero-rated data programs seems to have an ulterior motive. Possibly an attempt to rile the advocates of net neutrality.
Verizon's spokesperson, however, reveals that the carrier has been in discussions with the authorities and "the FCC was made aware of this announcement."
Verizon has divulged that while the video streaming of content is free from the data cap, other app activities such as downloading, commenting and more will be deducted as part of the data plan.
Verizon is hoping to attract more subscribers with zero-rating and defends the move as a win-win situation for consumers.
"The real benefit here is for consumers who no longer have to pay for data usage when watching the content in Go90. The cost falls to Go90 and we wanted to give our users an opportunity to watch everything in the app without it counting against their data plans," says a Verizon spokesperson.
