Comcast, Verizon Dropping Fuse Music Channel in New Year

Comcast and Verizon customers will have one less place to go for music videos in the new year, as both providers are dropping Fuse. Fuse went public with the information that Comcast would be dropping the network from its available channels on Sunday, with the company’s CEO Michael Schwimmer issuing a statement to Deadline. Less than a day later, Fuse revealed that it would lose carriage on Verizon Fios starting January 1st.

“Despite Comcast’s publicly-stated commitment to support diverse and independently operated networks, Comcast has elected to drop Fuse, a multicultural-focused television network, on December 31, after more than a decade of carriage,” Schwimmer said. “This decision is both surprising and troubling considering that Fuse met Comcast’s financial demands, and no other requirements were ever communicated to us…By removing our network from its consumer offering, Comcast is silencing yet another independent media company, in this case one that is devoted to providing a platform for inclusive voices and authentic representation at a uniquely important time in our society.”

As for Verizon, Fuse said in a statement that Verizon offered terms that were “unacceptable,” noting, “This is another instance of one of our nation’s largest telecommunications companies taking action inconsistent with its public posture regarding diversity. While claiming to be committed to supporting customers from underserved communities, Verizon Fios is removing unique content programmed to the passions and values of the large and growing multicultural millennial audience.”

Fuse offers music videos on its platform along with series such as the reality show T-Pain’s School of Business and eOne’s The Hollywood Puppet Show, as well as a series of Fuse Docs documentaries. The network has been a growing one among the 18-34 age group, a coveted demographic, rising 50% in the past three years while overall ad-supported cable declined 34% in same demo. The network also has the fifth-highest multicultural comp ranking among English-language ad-supported cable networks.

Fuse launched in 1994 as a network owned by Cablevision. It was bought in 2014 by Jennifer Lopez’ NuvoTV channel for $226 million.