Alaska-based cable operator GCI had originally planned to fully sunset its traditional cable TV service at the end of 2021 but plans have changed.
Now GCI’s cable TV customers will have until March 31 to switch over to Yukon TV, GCI’s new streaming TV service that skips the cable set-top box in favor of an app on a connected TV streaming device.
Dan Casey, vice president of sales at GCI, said the extended deadline will give the company a chance to work out some of the bugs in Yukon TV but mainly provide more time to convince subscribers to switch and get them used to new user interfaces and remotes.
“The main issue is change. People don’t like change,” he said.
GCI does not disclose subscriber totals for its pay TV service, but Casey said that viewership has remained high due to the pandemic and the weather way up north.
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“Cable TV viewing is strong in Alaska because, you know, it’s cold and it’s dark,” he said.
GCI TV and Yukon TV running concurrently and all the channels have already been migrated to the new streaming service. A few channels have been fully transitioned off GCI TV to Yukon TV but those were some of the least watched, Casey said.
GCI is moving toward offering 2-gig internet speed for its subscribers and it eventually plans to start offering 10-gig so it needed to free up some of the extra network bandwidth being taken up by traditional linear video channels. So, the company decided to launch Yukon TV, which it built from the ground up with some help from SeaChange, a video delivery software provider.
GCI is one of many cable and telco operators who have opted for either their own or a third-party streaming TV service as the focus shifts toward providing broadband. WOW! has been pointing its customers toward WOW! tv+ along with YouTube TV, fuboTV, Sling TV and Philo as linear TV options and Google Fiber has almost finished transitioning all of its Fiber TV customers to streaming alternatives.
Last year, BELD Internet, a small broadband provider in Massachusetts, along with Gigabit Minnesota and Rainbow Communications all decided to give up on TV.
The transitions are occurring as traditional pay TV operators continue to lose subscribers in large numbers. According to Leichtman Research Group, the largest U.S. pay TV operators lost about 650,000 net video subscribers during the third quarter, a number that was significantly offset by Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and fuboTV adding a combined 680,000 subscribers.