CenturyLink is shutting is shutting down Stream, about nine months after launching the virtual MVPD service into beta.
As first reported by Multichannel News, CenturyLink posted on its Stream website that it’s shuttering the service on March 31 and not taking any new subscribers.
CenturyLink launched Stream last June into beta with a $45-a-month base price and featuring nearly 50 channels. Early on, executives for the telecom talked openly about the over-the-top service replacing the in-footprint Prism IPTV service.
In August, CenturyLink CEO Glen Post also spoke about patterning with other OTT providers, but didn’t go into a lot of details.
“We have flexible packaging including live and on-demand local broadcast, national channels, and some genre additions,” Post said during his company’s second-quarter earnings call. “But we are very open to looking at other options.”
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At the time, analysts wondered what a regional operator like CenturyLink was doing trying to compete in the national OTT market.
“CenturyLink should definitely not be trying to compete with OTT companies like Netflix,” said Joel Espelien, senior analyst for The Diffusion Group. “The best move for them is to do bundling or reseller deals where they get some revenue for selling services like Hulu through to their subscribers.”
CenturyLink reps didn’t immediately respond to inquiries for comment.