CenturyLink CFO: OTT-TV Offering Might Replace Prism TV Product

CenturyLink may eventually replace its managed IPTV service, Prism TV, with an over-the-top product, if it’s able to secure the rights necessary to pull together a pay-TV package with the channels that are critical to consumers, company CFO Stewart Ewing said this week at the UBS Global Media and Communications conference in New York.

CenturyLink is currently trialing a skinny-bundle OTT video service ahead of an expected commercial debut of a product in early 2017 that will include the local broadcast TV networks and support platforms such as Roku.

Ewing said CenturyLink has no plans to expand Prism TV beyond its current market reach. CenturyLink ended Q3 with 318,000 Prism TV subscribers, up 7,000 from the prior quarter and up 49,000 from the year-ago period. It offers Prism TV in several markets, including Minneapolis/St. Paul; Seattle; La Crosse and Platteville, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee and central and Southwest Florida; Las Vegas; central N.C.; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Portland;  and Salt Lake City. 

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