Verizon may be able to boost sales of video-on-demand movies by offering group discounts to FiOS TV subscribers who would receive offers based on their viewing habits, according to a U.S. patent application.

Similar to the Groupon-style approach for selling VOD movies that Comcast revealed in a patent application in May, Verizon would offer discounted programming if enough subscribers ordered a particular movie within a set offer period. Verizon included an image in the application that showed how it could offer a 30 percent discount on the rental price of DreamWorks Animation's Shrek Forever if 4,000 FiOS subscribers ordered the movie. Targeting movies based on data about a subscriber's viewing history could help Verizon market titles that FiOS subscribers would be interested in buying. "The historical data may include data indicating TV shows and/or movies that each of customers has viewed, purchased and/or rented, data indicating channels to which customers have subscribed," Verizon writes in the patent application.

In addition to targeting subscribers through set-tops, the company notes that it could market the group discounts through social networks and mobile devices. Verizon filed the patent application, titled "digital content purchase offers via set-top box," in March 2012.