US cabler WOW! gives up on pay TV offering in favour of YouTube TV

US number eight cable operator WideOpenWest (WOW!) is to discontinue its existing pay TV service in favour of an agreement with Google to distribute YouTube TV to its customers.

Under the deal, YouTube TV will serve as WOW!’s dedicated live television offering, which will be offered along with the company’s broadband services in a single bill.

The cabler said that the agreement would transform how it offers a pay TV service and reinforces its broadband-first strategy by bundling YouTube TV with WOW! Internet.

The process of migrating WOW!’s residential video customers to YouTube TV will begin this summer as WOW! discontinues the marketing and selling of its TV services, including WOW! tv+, and sells YouTube TV across its footprint.

WOW! Said it would maintain and support its current video services in the interim as its existing base of video customers can switch from WOW!’s current video products to YouTube TV.

The company said that its current and prospective residential video customers would be able to take advantage of special promotional offers to purchase YouTube TV and add-on services such as NFL Sunday Ticket, and features such as the ability to watch key plays, real-time stats and multiview.

WOW! will wind down its legacy pay TV offering

WOW! customers that sign up for YouTube TV will have access to YouTube TV’s live TV streaming service with over 100 channels, Spanish-language packages and add-on packages such as NFL Sunday Ticket, along with multiview, the ability to hide spoilers, view real-time stats and watch key plays.

WOW! is not the first US service provider to opt for YouTube TV. In March, YouTube struck a partnership with  fibre broadband provider Frontier Communications whereby the latter will offer YouTube TV on its platform with integrated billing.

Denver, Colorado-based WOW! Is active in 15 US states, reaching 1.9 million homes, and is building out new fibre networks in greenfield areas in Florida and South Carolina. Like other US cablers the company has seen a decline in TV subscribers, recording 117,100 video RGUs as of March 31, down from 142,000 a year earlier. WOW! has also seen its total subscriber base decline slightly, down to 527,300 from 534,700 in March 2022.

“We are thrilled to begin offering YouTube TV and give our customers access to this best-in-class pay TV service. We are very pleased to deliver a seamless TV experience to our customers with this new partnership while continuing to execute on our broadband-first strategy,” said Teresa Elder, CEO at WOW!.

“This furthers our commitment to provide our customers with the highest quality services at the best value.”