CenturyLink is the latest pay-TV provider to plan over-the-top (OTT) skinny programming bundles.
"We're…working on an over-the-top offering that [we began] trialling in the third quarter that we hope to roll out on a trial basis in two or three markets, latter part of this year and early next year, that we think will help us with the millennials and be a lower-cost option from the standpoint of the way we roll it out than our Prism product is today," said company president and CEO Glen Post said, speaking during the operator's third-quarter earnings call.
Charter Communications, Time Warner Cable and Comcast have been running similar trials, and Verizon and DISH Network have already launched OTT services, which they see as complements to their pay-TV efforts.
According to CenturyLink CTO Aamir Hussain, CenturyLink is looking at two models for its OTT trials: "One is a skinny bundle with local, linear and premium [programming]," he said. "And it will have upsell opportunity for a kid's package, entertainment package and we are looking at multiple options there."
For the second product, he said, "[What] we are looking to do is in our franchise markets where we have Prism rights, just taking the same content and offering it on an over-the-top content along with an aggregation of other video services which are used by our customers today."
Source: http://www.rapidtvnews.com/2015110840581/centurylink-to-trial-ott-skinny-tv-bundle.html