WOW! said today that it will offer YouTube TV as its “dedicated live television offering.” The provider will discontinue the marketing and selling of its current TV offerings, including WOW! tv+, across its footprint.
In response to an inquiry from Telecompetitor, Roger Seiken, WOW! senior vice president and general counsel, said, “It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that the pay TV business is changing. Video content is very expensive and it is important for WOW! to make strategic changes to best serve our customers.
“This agreement benefits both WOW! and our customers by allowing customers to bundle YouTube TV’s best-in-class TV service with our fast and reliable Internet services, and reinforces our broadband-first strategy to bring our customers the highest quality services at the best value.”
As providers upgrade their broadband networks to support higher speeds, an added benefit is that they can use their broadband infrastructure to deliver video content, thereby improving network efficiency and reducing costs.
WOW! said last summer that it had upgraded its entire network to support speeds of 1.2 Gbps downstream and 50 Mbps upstream. It also has been deploying fiber broadband in some areas.
In a press release, the company noted that “WOW!’s fast, reliable, fiber-rich network powers all connected devices, allowing multiple users to stream movies and music, games, video conference and stay connected to what’s most important to them.”
The company said it would begin migrating residential video customers to YouTube TV beginning this summer.
WOW! highlighted several YouTube benefits to customers, including:
- More than 100 channels and add-on packages such as NFL Sunday Ticket
- The ability to “hide spoilers,” view real-time stats and watch key plays
- No long-term contracts or hidden fees
A WOW! spokesperson confirmed that charges for YouTube TV would appear on the customer’s WOW! internet service bill. That’s a capability that another carrier – Frontier – announced recently as part of its own YouTube TV deal.
The spokesperson declined to provide pricing for the YouTube TV offer, but said more information would be forthcoming.
“This furthers our commitment to provide our customers with the highest quality service at the best value,” said Teresa Elder, WOW! CEO, in today’s press release.
Updated with information from WOW!’s general counsel
