Adding another pay-TV option for its broadband customers, Windstream has struck a partnership with YouTube TV, the OTT-TV service that now has more than 2 million customers.

Financial terms were not announced, so it's not clear if Windstream gets a cut of YouTube TV revenues or if it will simply receive a bounty of some sort for any new YouTube TV customers it brings in the door. But Windstream is now marketing YouTube TV as a cord-cutting option that provides access to live and local TV. YouTube TV's baseline service starts at $49.99 per month for a lineup of more than 70 channels (including local broadcast TV stations in many US markets), a cloud DVR and up to six simultaneous streams per account.

Figure 1: Windstream is promoting YouTube TV to broadband customers, but continues to provide other pay-TV options, including its own Kinetic TV streaming service (developed with MobiTV) and bundles featuring the DirecTV satellite TV service.

Windstream confirmed that it will continue to support and offer Kinetic TV, an app-based TV streaming service introduced last year in partnership with MobiTV that supplanted an earlier-generation IPTV offering powered by Mediaroom (now part of MediaFirst). Windstream initially introduced Kinetic TV last year in North Georgia, offering it on an operator-supplied Android TV box as well as a mix of retail streaming platforms, including mobile iOS and Android devices, Amazon Fire TV devices and smart TVs, Apple TV boxes and web browsers.

Why this matters
The arrangement will give YouTube TV more exposure to Windstream's broadband customer base, which stood at 1.23 million at the end of 2019 after Windstream added 9,300 new subs in Q4.

Windstream is the latest broadband service provider to strike up a partnership with YouTube TV. YouTube TV, which has more than 2 million subscribers, inked a similar deal last year with Verizon focused on the telco's Fios Internet and 5G Home customers. More recently, Verizon has been touting YouTube TV for a new "Mix & Match" offering that leads with broadband service.

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For Windstream, the OTT-TV-focused partnership provides another way for the company to maintain a video relationship with broadband subs, complementing its other pay-TV options, including its own Kinetic TV streaming service and bundles featuring DirecTV's satellite TV service.

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading