Failure of Verizon’s cable partnership kills secretive Nuon content-sharing project

Verizon’s decision to terminate a joint venture with Comcast and other cable companies puts the end to an ambitious project dubbed NUON that included online components as well as dedicated streaming hardware.

Part of the concept was simply to cross-promote services to subscribers, with NUON offering exclusive content to cable subscribers who would link their cable account to their Verizon account, and vice versa. But NUON apparently also involved dedicated hardware. Its boxes were meant to help consumers share content across devices and services. There were also plans to allow subscribers of other cable TV providers, including Time Warner Cable, Cox and Verizon’s own FIOS service, to access the service, but it looks like Comcast may have been Verizon’s strongest partner in this joint-venture effort. Verizon spokesperson said in a statement that all work performed under the NUON brand was confidential. “Since none of the services were ready for launch, we cannot discuss them,” the spokesperson said.