As Cincinnati Bell continues to scale its Fioptics broadband customer base, the telco is realizing that customers are turning toward online sources to get their video service because they can choose the content they want to pay for. Its new Fioptics MyTV service is a response to that trend, one that the provider hopes will keep subscribers in the IPTV fold.
Set to be available in March, customers that subscribe to MyTV will receive the Starter Package, which features a skinny TV bundle of more than 50 channels.
The Starter Package is competitively priced at $29.99 a month and includes local channels, as well as some of the most popular cable channels including AMC, Discovery Channel and HGTV.
After signing up for the service, Cincinnati Bell says that customers must choose at least one Genre Package. Genre Package prices range from $6 to $25 a month and include specific content subjects such as Sports, Kids & Family, and Entertainment.
Current and existing Fioptics customers can purchase MyTV as a standalone service, or bundle it with a Fioptics broadband Internet service tier that scales up to 1 Gbps.
Cincinnati Bell will also continue to offer Fioptics customers traditional entertainment bundles in addition to MyTV.
To promote the MyTV service, Cincinnati Bell will launch a new advertising campaign -- "Love TV Again" -- featuring Nick and Vanessa Lachey. A Cincinnati Bell television commercial starring the Lacheys will premiere on Feb. 7 during the Super Bowl.
The new campaign will be followed by a #ShareTheLove grassroots marketing blitz in February that will feature employees "Sharing the Love" through random acts of kindness at businesses and venues throughout Greater Cincinnati.
Similar to larger telcos like Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Cincinnati Bell realizes that customers want to only pay for channels they want.
This service's launch may be a boost for the telco, particularly as it scales the reach of its Fioptics FTTH network. Cincinnati Bell passed an additional 28,500 homes while seeing more customers opting to cut the so-called video cord during the third quarter.
At that time the telco hinted that it was looking at various skinny bundle video packages for the millennial generation.
Ted Torbeck, CEO of Cincinnati Bell, said that some of its older customers are "taking the triple play and it's generally the millennials we're seeing cut the cord."
For more:
- see the release
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