Previously reticent to reveal distribution details in what are still the early stages of its deployment, startup pay-TV service Layer3 TV said it has 13 million passings and now ranks as the No. 4 cable provider in the U.S.
The information came from a tweet from Jeff Binder, CEO of the Denver-based cable company, responding to what was, perhaps, an overly snarky headline in Thursday’s FierceCable newsletter, downplaying the premium pay-TV service’s reach in an article about the company introducing TV Everywhere capabilities.
RELATED: Layer3 enables TV Everywhere apps for service still hardly available anywhere
Layer3 TV is seeking to carve out a counterintuitive niche in the pay-TV business, delivering robust programming bundles, technology and customer service acumen at a time when many cord-cutting-focused operators are trimming back their offerings.
The Layer3 service has been deployed in the Chicago and Washington, D.C., metropolitan areas, and Layer3 has said it will soon roll out in its home base of Denver. Pre-launch tests have also been conducted in Boston and Houston.
A cursory perusal of customer reviews seems solid: “Layer3....is less money than Comcast/DirecTV,” wrote a Chicago-based poster in a DSL Reports forum. “There are no bulls*** HD or DVR fees. A few less channels too but mostly the multiplexes of the main channels or junk that I wouldn't miss anyway. Customer service is infinitely better and had I not already cut the cord, I would have switched to Layer3 for the better customer service alone. Having said that, they're new, and they're small....so some growing pains are to be expected....but the platform has potential.”
Binder did not respond to FierceCable’s request to release subscriber numbers.
Ranking as the No. 4 cable provider would place Layer3 behind Comcast, Charter and privately held Cox Communications, but ahead of Altice USA, which touted 4.6 million total broadband and video customers at the time it acquired its U.S. operations, Suddenlink and Cablevision, a year ago.