Google Fiber, which announced back in early February that it was giving up on its own bundled pay TV service, has now added Sling TV to the list of third-party virtual MVPD options it offers to customers.
Sling TV joins YouTube TV, fuboTV and Philo among the promoted options.
“At Google Fiber, we know that TV, both live and on demand, is going somewhere only the internet can go, so we’re focused on providing high speed internet that makes streaming easy and enjoyable. And all that choice usually comes with a lower price tag than traditional TV (including ours!),” wrote Liz Hsu, director of product strategy for Google Fiber, in a company blog post.
Also read: Google Fiber Kills Its TV Service, Starts Marketing fuboTV
When it launched nearly a decade ago, Google Fiber bundled around 150 high-definition and standard-def channels, including ESPN, along with a 2-terabyte DVR that could record eight shows at once. In 2016, Google Fiber announced a major retrenchment, laying off 8% of its staff and pausing its buildout in 11 cities.
At that time, Google Fiber had 68,715 TV subscribers out of a total base of 453,000 customers taking broadband services. Customers could bundle 100 Mbps broadband and TV service for around $130 a month, with a $300 installation fee.
Also in February, Google Fiber began phasing out its 100 Mbps service and is only 1 Gbps products in the 18 regions it still operates.
It’s unclear as to how many broadband customers it has left.
As for Dish Network-owned Sling TV, it reported an addition of 203,000 customers in the third quarter, following losses of 237,000 subscribers in the first six months of 2020. The service has around 2.5 million paid users, ranking it roughly on par with the more expensive YouTube TV, but trailing market leader Hulu among virtual pay TV services.
