WOW! tv+ adds another service market in Georgia

Cable provider WOW! has added Newnan, Georgia as the latest market for WOW! tv+, its IP-based linear TV service.

WOW! tv+ offers live channel packages, cloud DVR storage and access to an on-demand library along with a Google Assistant voice remote and access to third-party streaming services including Netflix and Disney+ through the Google Play Store.

WOW! has transitioned to offering WOW! tv+ along with virtual MVPD options like YouTube TV, Sling TV, fuboTV and Philo as its focus continues to shift to broadband service. Moving away from traditional cable TV service helps free up additional network capacity and lets providers like WOW! more easily provide 1-gig and eventually 10-gig internet service.

In May, CEO Teresa Elder said that most new customers that WOW is bringing in are broadband-only or broadband plus one of the third-party streaming services that the cable operator directly sells.

RELATED: WOW! tv+ adoption still small, CEO says

“In terms of new customer take up [of WOW! tv+], it is small but it is an alternative for customers who like that curated video product and we’re happy to provide it,” she said.

WOW! has begun to reactively move its customers away from the traditional video product toward WOW! tv+ and Elder said her company will continue to do that more in the future.

The new market, which was rebranded earlier this year from NuLink to WOW!, comes along shortly after the company closed two deals that dramatically shrunk its service area. It sold its Chicago; Evansville, Indiana; and Anne Arundel, Maryland service areas to Radiate, a holding company for Astound Broadband for $661 million, and its Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio service areas to Atlantic Broadband for $1.125 billion.

WOW! now serves 14 markets, down from 19 before the transactions, but saw its market penetration rise from 26% to 28% in 2021.