US: Verizon, Comcast dissolve joint venture

Reports say telecommunications giant Verizon has dissolved its partnership with fellow media firms Comcast, Time Warner Cable and others, Verizon announced Friday in its third quarter earnings call.

Verizon had entered into the joint venture to coordinate media sales, an agreement that had Verizon selling Comcast services while Comcast bundled Verizon products.

The partnership, which also included an “innovation technology joint venture” for the companies to develop new communications infrastructure, was dissolved last August according to a Verizon spokesperson.

Despite the end of the joint venture, the companies will remain in close ties.

Reports say the commercial sales aspect of the agreements will remain in place and will continue to distribute each other’s products and services. The reports mean at least part of the joint venture’s agreements will remain intact.

According to Verizon, however, the cooperation between the companies to develop new infrastructure will end.

The partnership first raised competition concerns among the US Department of Justice in July of 2012.

Full content: The Verge

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