Verizon says CBS Sports Network will be available on 'Custom TV'

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Verizon Communications said on Monday that content from CBS Corp's Sports Network will be available on its new pay TV offering starting May 1. CBS Sports Network has joined Verizon FiOS's new Custom TV lineup under its sports package, a Verizon spokesman told Reuters. This announcement comes as another sports content provider ESPN, a division of Walt Disney Co, filed a suit against Verizon seeking damages for violating its agreement. Since Verizon unveiled its cheaper, slimmer pay-TV plan on Sunday, Disney, Comcast Corp's NBCUniversal and 21st Century Fox have pushed back and said Verizon's FiOS TV was violating existing agreements. Verizon's new pay-TV plan lets customers sign up for a slimmed-down, cheaper bundle of 36 fixed channels through its FiOS TV and then add on genre-specific packages such as kids, sports or news. It hopes the flexibility will lure them away from cable rivals and upstart online TV companies. Last week, Verizon said that Fox and ESPN did not run ads promoting its FiOS Custom TV service on its channels in the New York market. Verizon executives have maintained that their product does not invalidate agreements with content partners. (Reporting by Malathi Nayak Editing by W Simon)