ESPN, Verizon Settle Skinny Bundle Lawsuit

Disney’s ESPN and telecom giant Verizon said Tuesday they settled their lawsuit over the latter’s “skinny bundle” offer, which let customers of its Fios pay-TV service subscribe to ESPN networks as part of a cheaper package.

The case highlights how much technology has changed television in just a single year — and how the traditional models of distributing TV are entrenched even as the digital landscape shifts around them.

A year ago, Verizon introduced a cable package that sifted out channels like ESPN and put them into smaller, genre groupings like sports and children’s programming. But Disney complained that Verizon made the decision unilaterally, violating their contract.

Tuesday, the companies said they settled the suit with few further details. They said terms of the settlement were confidential, and both companies praised the other as a good partner.

Although they didn’t directly address whether Verizon could include ESPN in a skinny bundle, the telecom giant said in February it would be adjusting its packages to comply with programming contracts.

Also Read: Dish's Sling TV Pits Fox vs. Disney Channels in Confusing New Offering

Fox Sports and NBCUniversal had also said Verizon’s “Custom TV” packages violated its contracts. The plan allowed customers the option of adding two channel bundles out of seven total, on top of a 35-channel basic cable lineup. A skinny sports bundle was among the choices.

But skinny bundles are no longer novel. When Verizon initially announced the bundles that spurred the suit a year ago, rival Dish had launched its skinny-bundle Internet TV service Sling TV only two months earlier.

And Disney a few months later prompted a wide sell-off in television company stocks when it disclosed that subscribers were dropping. CEO Bob Iger’s comments about modest subscriber losses in August stoked investor fears about “cord cutting,” the practice of forsaking a pricey pay-TV package for online alternatives.

Since then, Iger has credited online services like Dish’s Sling TV for contributing to subsequent increases in subscribers.

10 'Game of Thrones' Characters Most and Least Likely to Die, According to Science (Photos)

So, did Jon Snow really die in "Game of Thrones" season finale? Did Sansa survive her leap from Winterfell's wall? Before Sunday's return of the series starts unraveling those mysteries, researchers at a German university say their algorithm knows the answers. A student team at the Technical University of Munich analyzed data on all the "Game of Thrones" characters and built a machine-learning program that gives each one a percentage chance of survival or doom. Who is the most and least likely to die next?
HBO
This boy king is virtually dead already. Tommen Baratheon has a 97 percent likelihood of dying, according to the algorithm. Considering his grandfather, father, older brother and sister have all been murdered, and basically every person with any power in Westeros is vying to steal his seat on the Iron Throne, this doom may not be the biggest surprise.

Also Read: ‘Game of Thrones': Most Upsetting, Shocking and Disturbing Deaths So Far (Photos)
HBO
Tommen's uncle, Stannis, is a close runner-up in the algorithm's ranking of who's next to die. He has a 96 percent chance of being offed. Of course, our last glimpse of Stannis was of him lying defenseless on the ground as Brienne of Tarth swung her sword at him for the kill, so...

Also Read: All 47 ‘Game of Thrones’ Main Characters, Ranked Worst to Best (Photos)
HBO
It doesn't look good for fan favorite Khaleesi. Daenerys Targaryen has a 95 percent of dying, putting her at No. 3 in the close race to the grave.
HBO
Davos Seaworth, Stannis Baratheon's once right-hand deputy, has a 91 percent chance of doom. After barely surviving the battle at King's Landing in Season 2, this Onion Knight may not have long left.
HBO
Petyr Baelish's cunning vaulted him to money and power, and it's saved him from more than one dire scrape. But he has a 91 percent likelihood of dying, according to the algorithm, so his wiles may not get him much farther.
HBO
Among those most likely to survive, Roose Bolton is No. 5 on the "might just make it" list. And even though he makes it into that elusive top 5, he still has a 28 percent likelihood of dying.
HBO
Margaery Tyrell's fate is rosier than her young husband, Tommen, at a 64 percent likelihood of dying. Her father, though, has the best chances in the Tyrell family, at only 18 percent doomed.
HBO
Most people love to hate Cersei Lannister, but her conniving ways earn her a solid chance of surviving. She is only 16 percent likely to die, putting her at No. 3 on the list of survivors.
HBO
Bless the all-knowing algorithm! Jon Snow is alive! At least, there's only an 11 percent chance that the Night's Watch mutiny that left him bleeding in the snow actually killed him. Only one other character has a better likelihood of survival.
HBO
Place your bets now. Although she jumped from the heights of Winterfell's high wall in the finale of the last season, machine learning assures us Sansa is the most likely character of all to survive the "Song of Ice and Fire." She her likelihood of death is only 3 percent.
HBO

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Is Jon Snow dead or alive? A machine-learning algorithm pegs the percentage chance of every ”Game of Thrones“ character surviving or perishing

So, did Jon Snow really die in "Game of Thrones" season finale? Did Sansa survive her leap from Winterfell's wall? Before Sunday's return of the series starts unraveling those mysteries, researchers at a German university say their algorithm knows the answers. A student team at the Technical University of Munich analyzed data on all the "Game of Thrones" characters and built a machine-learning program that gives each one a percentage chance of survival or doom. Who is the most and least likely to die next?

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10 'Game of Thrones' Characters Most and Least Likely to Die, According to Science (Photos)

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