Under an agreement announced yesterday, Verizon's fiber to the home service (Fios) -- the triple play of Internet, telephone, & TV -- will carry Disney offerings, including ABC and ESPN.

This continues the Verizon strategy of "racking up content deals before the launch of its television service," says C|Net News.

Those with memories may wonder, "but what about piracy?" considering the wars between Verizon and the RIAA a couple of years ago over identifying P2P users.

The companies have agreed that Disney will notify Verizon if it thinks a subscriber is stealing content, and

Verizon would forward and track notices to its subscribers allegedly engaged in the unauthorized distribution of Disney’s copyrighted works, without identifying the subscribers to Disney, and either provide subscriber identifying information pursuant to lawfully served subpoenas or terminate Verizon Internet service provided to subscribers who have infringed Disney copyrights and received multiple notices.

This is, of course, a good conclusion to the past wars over piracy prevention -- a free bargain whereby the parties allocate the costs and benefits of piracy prevention for themselves. One problem with the earlier efforts to enlist Verizon as an enforcer was that it: (1) Forced Verizon to act against its own perceived interests with no reward; (2) Attempted to substitute a legal regime of duties for a system of economic incentives.

If we were into meditation here at PFF, our mantra would not be "Ommm" but "Bargains Are Best."

posted by James DeLong @ 9:32 AM | Telecom

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