VerizonFiOSbannerTelevision packages are increasingly looking less like a Happy Meal and more like, “Would you like fries with that?”

Verizon confirmed today that it will offer its FiOS customers the ability to customize the service by choosing from seven different types of channel packs, in addition to a basic set of 35 channels. For $54.99 per month, Custom TV subscribers will be able to select two “genre packs” of 10-17 channels each covering kids, pop culture, entertainment, news and info, lifestyle, sports, and sports plus. Each additional genre pack after the first two is another $10 per month.

The Hollywood Reporter says that this makes Verizon the first traditional pay-television provider to offer customized program packages. While the FiOS genre packs are more like mini-bundles than full unbundling, the Reporter says it’s viewed “as a move in the direction of a la carte offers.”

Verizon confirmed the offer on its Tuesday earnings call, with CFO Fran Shammo commenting, “This is a product that the consumer wants…. It’s all about consumer choice.”

One simmering controversy has been whether Verizon has the latitude to unbundle ESPN’s networks and put them in a separate sports package. ESPN, in a statement, said it doesn’t think so. To that, Shammo responds, “We believe we are allowed to offer these packages under our existing [programming] contracts.”

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