Back in 2008, Verizon Fios TV was pay TV's hottest property, growing by 303,000 customers in the fourth quarter of that year.
Back and those days, our linear-focused LCD TV sets were filled with Transformers-themed commercials starring blockbuster film maven Michael Bay, telling us how awesome this new pay TV alternative to cable and satellite was.
These days? With Verizon's focus clearly directed toward 5G wireless and fiber connectivity, Fios TV isn't as awesome. Verizon reported the loss of another 69,000 Fios TV customers in the fourth quarter, with its base slipping to around 3.645 million customers.
Fios TV is now the sixth largest pay TV platform in the U.S., trailing Comcast's Xfinity TV, Charter's Spectrum TV, DirecTV and Dish Network, as well as virtual MVPD's Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV.
Like AT&T, Verizon also divested its media portfolio, ditching to private equity company Apollo Management last year for $5 billion.
For its part, Verizon often cross-sells third-party video products, including YouTube TV and the Disney Bundle, prioritizing them over the traditional Fios linear video platform, trying to keep sales moving for its fiber-based, Fios-branded wireline broadband products.
Verizon added 51,000 internet customers during the fourth quarter and 339,000 for the full 2021 campaign. Fios revenue was up 5.6% year over year to $2.9 billion in the fourth quarter.
Calling 2021 a "transformational" year during which it fulfilled the objectives laid out three years ago when he joined the company as CEO, Hans Vestberg told investors, "As we move into 2022, we have the necessary assets to realize our strategy that we laid out in 2019. We are laser focused on executing our 5G strategy and providing value to our customers, shareholders, employees, and society, as 2022 will be the most exciting year yet for Verizon."
