Verizon Communications, in an effort to better focus on its 5G offerings, said it has created a new operating structure focused on three customer-facing areas: Consumer, Business and Verizon Media Group / Oath.

The changes will be effective Jan. 1, and Verizon said it expects to transition to financial reporting under the new structure during the second quarter of 2019.

“This new structure reflects a clear strategy that starts with Verizon customers,” Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said in a statement. “We’re building on our network transformation efforts and the Intelligent Edge architecture to deliver new customer experiences and optimize the growth opportunities we see as leaders in the 5G era. We’re focused on how our technology can benefit customers’ lives and society at large.”

Verizon Consumer Group will include the consumer segment for both the company’s wireless and wireline businesses, including wireless wholesale and will be led by current Verizon Wireless EVP and president Ronan Dunne.

Verizon Business Group will include the wireless and wireline enterprise, small and medium business, and government businesses, as well as wireline wholesale and Verizon Connect, the company’s telematics business. It will be led by current EVP, wireless operations Tami Erwin.

According to Verizon, its Fios TV and Fios broadband services will be part of the products sold by the Consumer and Business Groups.

Verizon Media Group / Oath will include the company’s media, news, entertainment, gaming, commerce and other businesses and will be led by Oath CEO Guru Gowrappan.

Verizon’s Global Network & Technology organization, which will serve all company operations, will be led by Kyle Malady, currently chief network operations officer and chief technology officer.

There are no changes in leadership for company-wide staff functions.

“Our strategy is designed to elevate one of the most successful companies in the world to the greatest company in the world,” Vestberg said in a memo to employees Monday. “It’s a big leap and in order to realize this vision, it has to start with our customers. Today we begin this journey by reorienting our operating structure more towards our customers.”

The full memo to employees is below:

November 5, 2018

V Team,

By now you’ve all heard me say how excited I am about the future of our company. Today is no different.

In the past three months, I’ve been meeting and listening to you, our customers, and investors. What I heard was a pride, dedication and commitment to our customers, our organization and values. What’s also unmistakable is we can be even better, that we have a lot of potential just waiting to be unlocked.

Today, I want to share how we will organize our team to better take advantage of the opportunities ahead of us. I like to call it… Verizon 2.0, “Building tomorrow with the best of today. “

The structure will follow a clear strategy, one that includes:

Our strategy is designed to elevate one of the most successful companies in the world to the greatest company in the world. It’s a big leap and in order to realize this vision, it has to start with our customers. Today we begin this journey by reorienting our operating structure more towards our customers.

We will transform and begin operating under this structure in January 2019.

Customer-facing Operating Groups including:

• Consumer, led by Ronan Dunne
• Business, led by Tami Erwin
• Media/Oath, led by Guru Gowrappan

A Global Network and Technology Organization led by Kyle Malady

Corporate staff functions including:

• Finance, led by Matt Ellis
• Strategy & New Business Development, led by Rima Qureshi
• Marketing, led by Diego Scotti
• Public Policy, Legal & Security, led by Craig Silliman
• CAO, led by Marc Reed

This is a big change that you will likely have questions about. Think about it for the next few hours and join me for a webcast today at 2:00 PM ET. The team and I will address your questions.

We have a lot to be proud of at Verizon. Our network leadership, our dedication to serving our customers, and our talented V Team are all strengths we must preserve as we begin this new era.

It’s my privilege to lead this team, guided by a shared purpose: Deliver the promise of the digital world by enabling people, businesses and society to innovate and drive positive change.

Thank you all for your support during this transition period. As always, the team – V Team – will make the difference.

Hans V

FiOS TV, which shook up the pay TV universe last year with the introduction of Custom TV, a skinny bundle without sports juggernaut ESPN, has revamped that offering, introducing a new Custom TV package – Sports & More – that includes the Worldwide Sports Leader for the same price.

Custom TV subscribers still have the option of selecting a sports-free package -- which FiOS is calling Custom TV Essentials. The difference is now they also have the choice of  selecting an option that includes sports channels -- Custom TV Sports & More -- for the same monthly price. 

ESPN had chafed at being left out of the original Custom TV package, and even went as far as suing Verizon over breach of contract, but that suit never seemed to move forward.

But dropping ESPN from Custom TV seemed to fuel speculation that the once must-have cable network was losing steam, which was exacerbated by Nielsen data that showed the channel had lost about 3 million subscribers in 2015.

Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger hinted that ESPN had worked out a deal with Verizon on the media giant’s fiscal first quarter conference call, adding that the sports channel was in talks with several skinny bundle and OTT service providers. While Iger and other content and distribution CEOs have pointed out that fatter bundles still appear to be the most popular with viewers, ESPN seemed pleased with its addition to the Custom TV tier.

“We are encouraged by the changes that Verizon has made to Custom TV," ESPN said in a statement. "We expect the vast majority of Verizon subscribers to continue to get ESPN as part of their Extreme HD or Preferred HD package and we welcome the opportunity for additional subscribers to enjoy ESPN and ESPN2 as part of the new entry-level Custom TV offering."

After all the hype, Verizon said it will introduce new Custom TV bundles this Sunday (Feb. 21) aimed at appealing to a broader range of customers, adding that the new packages are designed with the same goal as the original: “to give customers the flexibility and choice to only pay for the types of channels they want and not the ones they don’t.”

The new plans are:

Custom TV – Essentials: Including about 75 channels such as Discovery Channel, Lifetime, History, Bravo, Fox News, Nickelodeon, MSNBC, CNN, Hallmark Channel, FX, Food Network, Disney Channel, MTV, Spike, USA and Turner Classic Movies.

Custom TV – Sports & More: All the regional sports channels in the customer’s service area, as well as about 55 channels such as ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, Fox Sports 1, NBC Sports Network, the NFL Network, and non-sports channels including Cartoon Network, CNBC, Syfy and TNT.

After choosing their plan, customers can enhance their channel lineup by selecting up to three additional, genre-based add-on packs for only $6 each – Movie Lovers Pack, Kids Teens & Family Pack, and the Global Sports Pack.

Custom TV customers will also receive the Fios TV Local package, which includes the customer’s local broadcast channels and other local programming.

“For many customers, less is more – they would rather pay less and get more of the content they are actually interested in,” said Verizon Consumer and Mass Business Group president Tami Erwin in a statement. “The original Custom TV has proven very popular since we launched it last year, and we’ve incorporated our customers’ feedback to make the next generation of Custom TV even better with a simpler choice and a much wider variety of channels available.”

Custom TV triple plays with Fios Digital Voice and Fios Internet with symmetrical upload and download speeds of 100 megabits per second, start at $69.99 per month online. Standalone versions of both packages are prices at about $54.99 per month each.

Customers that want the most content can also still purchase Verizon’s more traditional Fios TV plans such as Preferred HD, Extreme HD or Ultimate HD.