Taking a page from other broadband-focused service providers, Frontier Communications has forged a partnership with YouTube TV, the Google-owned virtual multichannel video programming distributor (vMVPD).

Starting today, Frontier is pitching a bundle that pairs its own broadband service with YouTube TV.

Figure 1: Alongside discounted access to YouTube TV, Frontier also has pay-TV bundling partnerships with DirecTV Stream and for Dish Network's satellite TV service.
(Image source: Frontier Communications)

To help prime the pump, Frontier is pitching YouTube TV for $54.99 per month, $10 off YouTube TV's regular baseline price, for the first 12 months. According to the fine print, the offer is limited to first-time YouTube TV customers, and is available to Frontier broadband customers on speed tiers delivering 25 Mbit/s or more.

YouTube TV's baseline service features more than 85 channels, access to a cloud DVR and a family plan supporting up to six accounts per household.

"This partnership with YouTube TV gives our customers the opportunity to cut the cord and still watch the live and on-demand content they love," John Harrobin, Frontier's EVP of consumer, said in a statement. "Customers can now enjoy our fiber-optic broadband service plus YouTube TV for the best price available in the market."

Frontier also has agreements to bundle DirecTV Stream, the OTT-TV service from the DirecTV unit recently spun out of AT&T that starts at $69.99 per month. Frontier also has a deal to sell and bundle Dish Network's satellite TV service. Frontier requires customers on the DirecTV Stream bundle to be on a speed tier of at least 25 Mbit/s, but it lowers that minimum to 6 Mbit/s for high-speed Internet customers who take the Dish satellite TV option.

Frontier is one of several broadband-focused service providers to strike bundling deals with virtual MVPDs. Among other examples, Google Fiber co-markets YouTube TV, Philo, FuboTV and Dish-owned Sling TV as it pushes ahead with a plan to phase out its legacy IPTV service. WideOpenWest, a self-described "broadband-first" cable overbuilder, has teamed with YouTube TV, FuboTV and Philo, and currently does not promote its own IP-based pay-TV service very heavily.

Frontier's YouTube TV agreement enters the picture as the operator pushes ahead with a major fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network upgrade plan. Under Wave 1 of that plan, Frontier intends to reach a total of 5 million fiber locations by the end of 2022, and, in a Wave 2 buildout, expects to expand that total to 10 million locations by the end of 2025.

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading