CenturyLink (since renamed Lumen) has agreed to pay the Justice Department $275,000 to settle DOJ's complaint stemming from the company's violation of the terms of its acquisition of Level 3.

It is the second such violation, DOJ said, which will file a civil contempt claim in D.C. federal court and at the same time ask the court to accept the settlement, which resolves the claim.

Also Read: CenturyLink, DOJ Settle Level 3 Condition

“CenturyLink is a repeat offender,” said acting assistant Attorney General Richard Powers of the Antitrust Division. “The request for a finding of civil contempt is appropriate because the company violated its amended obligations immediately after the court imposed them. When companies fail to comply with court-ordered obligations, the Antitrust Division will take action to enforce them.”

CenturyLink had violated the 2018 final judgment that paved the way for the Level 3 purchase, then violated the August 2020 settlement of that violation, which is what prompted this week's settlement of the civil contempt claim.

 Shares of Lumen Technologies, formerly CenturyLink, fell as much as 13% Wednesday, a day after it said it had agreed to sell a large chunk of its incumbent local exchange (ILEC) business to private equity firm Apollo Global Management in a deal valued at $7.5 billion.

Lumen shares were trading as low as $11.09 each early on Wednesday (Aug. 4), down 13% ($1.66 per share). The stock closed at $11.62 each (down 8.9%, or $1.13 per share) on Aug. 4. 

On Aug. 3, after the market close, Lumen said it had agreed to sell its ILEC assets in 20 states to Apollo, a move that came about a week after it said it would sell its Latin American business to another private equity firm -- Stonepeak Infrastructure Partners -- for $2.7 billion. 

CenturyLink rebranded as Lumen Technologies last year, the first step in preparing the company for what it called The Fourth Industrial Revolution. With the Apollo deal, Lumen sheds local telephone and copper-based broadband businesses with about 6 million customers to focus more intensely on its large enterprise and residential broadband customers, and invest in expanding its fiber network in its remaining 16 states of operation.  

According to Lumen, the properties being sold to Apollo include about 200,000 fiber-enabled units, 7 million addressable locations, 1.3 million broadband subscribers and 59,000 fiber customers. 

After the deal closes, Lumen will have 21 million enabled units, 2.4 million fiber enabled units, 3.4 million broadband subscribers and 687,000 fiber subscribers.   

In a research note, Evercore ISI Group cable, telecom and satellite analyst James Ratcliffe said the moves appear to be an effort by Lumen management to “dramatically reorient the company” by shedding declining high cash flow businesses, sharply increase capital spending and change how it returns capital to its shareholders by reducing or possibly eliminating its stock dividend in favor of share repurchases.  

“We see the moves as an attempt to restructure the company into the kind of fiber infrastructure business being rewarded with high multiples by both public and private market investors,” Ratcliffe wrote. “Given the uncertainty about the company’s strategy, and the disruption of the business and the shareholder base likely to result from this strategic reorientation, we’re staying on the sidelines, and retaining our ‘Underperform’ rating.” 

While Lumen didn’t officially reduce or eliminate the dividend, CEO Jeff Storey said on a conference call to discuss the transaction that the new strategy will put pressure on the dividend.

“[W]ith these transactions, the profile of our business is changing and will change rapidly going forward as we lean into investing for growth and continuing to rationalize the portfolio,” Storey said on the call. “I do realize that will put pressure on our dividend after we close these transactions and the further we get into our investment program.”

That was enough for Ratcliffe, who said at least a reduction is likely after the deal closes.

“We interpret this to mean that the dividend is likely to be materially reduced or eliminated, but that management aren’t taking that step yet, in the absence of certainty that the proposed transactions will be completed,” Ratcliffe wrote. 

While that would be enough to explain the volatility in the stock, Lumen’s sluggish Q2 results added to the pressure. Revenue of $4.9 billion during the quarter came in 2% below Ratcliffe’s estimates and cash flow of $2.1 billion was slightly below the analyst’s forecasts. However, free cash flow was nearly 30% above Evercore predictions, mainly because capital expenditures of $646 million were far below estimates of $899 million.

Apollo intends to invest heavily in the networks to upgrade them to fiber-optic technology. The new unit will be run by former Verizon Communications executives Bob Mudge, Chris Creager and Tom Maguire, who helped create that phone company’s Fios broadband business. 

“This transaction is an important step in our continued efforts to transform Lumen and drive future growth for our company,” Storey said in a press release, pointing out the strong valuation of the deal (5.5 times cash flow). “Apollo Funds will receive a great business with a strong customer base, dedicated employees, and a platform for future growth.” 

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2022.

"The team at Lumen has built a great business and we see an incredible opportunity to provide leading edge, fiber-to-the-home broadband technology to millions of its business and residential customers,” Apollo private equity partner Aaron Sobel said in a press release. “Our investment will help accelerate the upgrade to fiber optic technologies, and we are excited to have such a high-caliber management team ready to bring faster and more reliable internet service to many rural markets traditionally underserved by broadband providers.”

Citi, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, and Morgan Stanley served as financial advisors to Lumen in the transaction and Jones Walker served as legal counsel. Advisors to the Apollo Funds include Mizuho, LionTree, Barclays and Credit Suisse as financial advisors; Altman Solon as telecommunications, media and technology consultant; and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP as lead legal counsel, together with Jenner & Block LLP and Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP as regulatory counsel. 

The Justice Department and broadband/telecom company CenturyLink have settled allegations that the company violated the conditions of its acquisition of Level 3. 

Specifically, DOJ said CenturyLink had promised not to solicit customers that had switched to assets divested as part of the deal. DOJ said that on more than 70 occasions CenturyLink tried to woo back customers who had chosen to switch to the divestiture buyer in Boise City-Nampa, Idaho. 

Related: CenturyLink Extends Connectivity Pledge 

"When a defendant violates the terms of a settlement decree, it must be held accountable to its obligations to the department and the American consumer,” said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim, who heads the antitrust division. “Today’s motion to amend the Final Judgment ensures that consumers get the benefit of competition otherwise lost by CenturyLink’s acquisition of Level 3 Communications. I also commend CenturyLink for its cooperation in resolving the department’s concerns.” 

CenturyLink did not dispute the allegations and agreed to: 

1. "extend the non-solicitation period by two years for the Boise MSA; 

2. "the appointment of an independent monitoring trustee; and

3. "pay the United States to defray the costs of the department’s investigation of CenturyLink’s violations of the court order."

DOJ has submitted that amended settlement to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, which will have to sign off on the settlement for it to become official. 

CenturyLink also agreed to abide by four new provisions in antitrust settlements that make them easier for the Antitrust Division to enforce.

Hugo Teufel has joined CenturyLink as its chief privacy officer. 

He will advise sales, IT and security teams on strategic privacy initiatives. Teufel reports to VP and deputy general counsel Ryan McManis and will be based in Denver. 

He was most recently chief privacy counsel at Raytheon, where he helped that company navigate the new privacy landscape of EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), which went into effect this year. 

Teufel's is the former chief privacy officer at the Department of Homeland Security, associate solicitor for the Department of the Interior, deputy solicitor general for the state of Colorado, and a one-time judge advocate in the Army National Guard. 

Teufel succeeds Linda Gardner, who exited the company in December 2019 to become associate general counsel, privacy and data protection, at Leggett & Platt, a Kansas City law firm.

CenturyLink has joined the growing list of major ISPs extending their connectivity pledge from mid-May to June 30, and said it was also suspending residential data usage limits due to the pandemic. 

Related: T-Mobile Extends Connectivity Pledge

More than 700 ISPs signed on to pledge, pushed by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, that they would: 

(1) "not terminate service to any residential or small business customers because of their inability to pay their bills due to the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic;  

(2) "waive any late fees that any residential or small business customers incur because of their economic circumstances related to the coronavirus pandemic; and  

(3) "open its WiFi hotspots to any American who needs them."  

"Today, we recommitted to the FCC’s ‘Keep Americans Connected Pledge,’" said the company. 

Other big names re-upping until June 30 include Comcast, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon.  

The FCC has declined to comment on whether the chairman urged ISPs to extend that pledge.  

Denise Paine, director of enterprise sales for CenturyLink in Boston, has found a way to use her considerable cartooning talent to help lighten her co-workers’ spirits in the current tough times.

CenturyLink used one of her cartoons to illustrate the company’s provision, at no cost, of a broadband ship-to-shore connection to hospital ship Mercy in Los Angeles. But that was just the tip of the cartooning iceberg, as it were.

Paine told Multichannel News she has started doing daily cartoons and circulating them to most of the eastern U.S. CenturyLink team. “I’ve been publishing these for my region for several months,” she said, “[and] with the most recent COVID situation, I moved this to daily.”

Paine is in good company. Using humor as a way to cope with the stresses of war has a notable antecedent in Bill Mauldin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist who raised the spirits of GI’s in World War II.

Paine is herself a veteran (note her salute at right to the front line COVID-19 fighters). “I did daily comics when I was in the military, deployed to combat zones (she is a former Military Intelligence Officer), and when I was attached to the Navy,” she said.

Not surprisingly, she is a multiple cartoon award winner in the Maj. Gen. Keith L. Ware Awards for Military Journalism.

“I love to use my talent to calm and inspire people, which I feel is so essential right now,” she said.

Moving from ship to shore, CenturyLink is extending its broadband lifelines.

The ISP, which last weekend donated its time and service to getting the hospital ship Mercy connected with a free 1 gig Ethernet connection, is now donating high-speed connections to temporary hospital facilities.

The company said it will donate connectivity and waive fees for several field hospitals and quarantine sites in Washington (Seattle) and Oregon.

As with the Mercy's tight deadline, CenturyLink says the turnaround time for such connections is 48 hours.

“This is the beginning of our essential work to assist healthcare workers on the front lines, as we respond where we are needed the most,” said Ed Morche, CenturyLink president of government and enterprise markets. “As these needs arise across the country, CenturyLink is coordinating with local government, hospitals, and the military to locate field hospitals on our network so we can provide immediate connectivity. We are donating our costs and services to help the cause - it’s the right thing to do.”

The company said it is currently providing the following, with more to come.

• A 1 gig Ethernet connection to the Oregon State Fair and Exposition Center in Salem for a 250-bed temporary hospital.

• A 200 Mbps fiber link to, appropriately, the CenturyLink Field Events Center in Seattle for a 148-bed facility to house non-coronavirus patients.

• High speed fiber connections at eight quarantine sites in King County, Wash., and Seattle.

Broadband provider CenturyLink has donated and installed high-speed broadband to the hospital ship Mercy, which pulled into port in Los Angeles Friday (March 27) to provide hospital beds and care there during the coronavirus pandemic. 

The ship is being used to house other patients at hospitals expected to have all they can handle dealing with COVID-19 patients during the Pandemic. 

At press time California had the third-most recorded cases of the virus after New York and New Jersey. 

CenturyLink is providing a 1 gig ethernet connection free for one year, connecting the Defense Information Systems Agency's Air Station with the ship. 

“When the military reached out to us about providing dockside connectivity to the USNS Mercy with two days’ notice before it arrived in Los Angeles, we quickly put our network expertise to work to make it happen,” said Ed Morche, CenturyLink’s president of enterprise and government markets. 

The ship is providing 1,000 extra beds and almost as many medical personnel, as well as a dozen operating rooms. 

FCC chairman Ajit Pai gave CenturyLink a shout out in a tweet Sunday (March 29).

[embed]https://twitter.com/AjitPaiFCC/status/1244413570902831105[/embed]

CenturyLink has taken a new step to help its workers cope with the coronavirus pandemic. 

The company said it has extended benefits, providing 80 hours of paid emergency time off over the next 60 days. That is in addition to any current paid time off, sick leave or unpaid leave. 

The company said 75% of its workforce--outside of some field and customer-facing jobs, is now working from home. 

"This voluntary move goes beyond the recently enacted 'Families First Coronavirus Response Act,'" the company said, "since it does not require larger companies like CenturyLink to comply." 

Competitive local-exchange carriers (CLECs), one of the main purveyors of broadband service in rural America, are learning the hard way that, in the cutthroat business that is high-speed internet, speed rules.

The CLEC industry is anxiously awaiting the pending bankruptcy filing by Frontier Communications, expected sometime next month. And Sanford Bernstein telco analyst Nick Del Deo has slapped a “sell” rating on one of the larger CLECs in the business, CenturyLink Communications. In a research note, Del Deo said as much as half of the CLEC business is tied to old technology — voice and copper-based digital subscriber line high-speed data service — that customers in secondary markets are increasingly shunning.

In downgrading CenturyLink to “sell” from “neutral,” Del Deo said the change was more a trading play than a fundamentals play. But there are still potential pitfalls ahead, he said.

CenturyLink lost about 36,000 broadband customers in Q4, and its 2020 outlook called for overall adjusted EBITDA to increase slightly, from $9.07 billion in 2019 to between $9 billion and $9.2 billion in 2020. On the plus side, the company has built out fiber to about 2 million homes and expects that to grow.

“The downside isn’t as juicy as it was, but it’s still quite meaningful and the risk-reward remains favorable,” Del Deo wrote, adding that Q4 2019 results and 2020 guidance didn’t play out as he had hoped. “There was nothing terrible in the report, but neither was there any reason to alter our negative longer-term forecasts.”

To bring home that point, Del Deo kept his 12-month price target on CenturyLink stock at $10, a 25% discount to its closing price of $13.34 on Feb. 18, the day he issued his downgrade.

CenturyLink stock closed at $13.33 on Feb. 19. CenturyLink’s broadband challenges are similar to those of its peers. In markets where it has fiber and is offering speeds of 100 Megabits per second or faster, growth is strong. In markets where its top speeds are 20 Mbps or slower, losses mount.

Nowhere was that more evident than in the fourth quarter. CenturyLink, which ended Q4 with 4.7 million broadband subscribers, lost about 36,000 high-speed internet customers in the period. Breaking out those losses, CenturyLink reported that it shed 73,000 customers that had speeds of 20 Mbps or less, and added 37,000 subs with service at 20 Mbps or higher. Of those additions, CenturyLink added 53,000 customers with service speeds of 100 Mbps or greater, and lost 16,000 customers with speeds between 20 Mbps and 99 Mbps.

Frontier’s Fios Hangover

At Frontier, the declines can mostly be traced back to its 2015 purchase of Fios properties from Verizon Communications for about $10.5 billion. That deal was supposed to be a game-changer for Frontier by doubling its footprint. Instead, it has proved to be an albatross, marred by system outages after a difficult transition period.

Those troubles, along with mounting debt and poor customer service, in part led to last year’s departure of Frontier CEO Daniel McCarthy. He was replaced by former Dish Network chief operating officer Bernie Han, who has reportedly been in talks with Frontier’s creditors to restructure $17.5 billion in debt. Hence the expectation of a prepackaged bankruptcy filing before the next $365 million payment comes due on March 15.

Frontier would be the second major CLEC to file for bankruptcy protection in the past year. In February 2019, satellite TV and broadband service reseller Windstream filed for Chapter 11 protection after it lost a $312 million legal judgment brought by a capital management firm that claimed the spinoff of network assets to a real estate investment trust violated bondholder agreements.

In the meantime, Frontier’s stock has cratered to about 60 cents per share from $3.50 about a year ago.

Telco broadband subscribers as a whole were down about 2% last year, Leichtman Research Group president Bruce Leichtman said, while cable grew by about 5%.

“They [CLECs] are not growing, while cable is growing,” Leichtman said.

He said cable’s growth has been helped by two factors: a superior, faster broadband product and bundling high-speed internet with a competitive video product.

“That has been a significant advantage for cable,” Leichtman said. Cable has dominated the broadband market for a decade.

Cable operators have accounted for 26.8 million of the 27.8 million broadband customer additions between Q1 2010 and Q3 2019, Leichtman estimated.

Leichtman doesn’t count the CLECs out, though. He said that besides debt-burdened Frontier and CenturyLink, the sector has performed well.

There is still opportunity in rural markets, Leichtman said, and broadband service is still a good business, especially from providers like Cincinnati Bell and Consolidated Communications that have invested in fiber.

“Broadband is a fairly profitable business,” Leichtman said. “If you can stay whole, there’s profitability in that.”

CenturyLink has settled another state lawsuit charging it with deceptive advertising. 

According to court documents on the state attorney general's Web site, the company has agreed to pay $4 million to settle charges it engaged in deceptive advertising via deceptive billing practices, undisclosed fees and failing to apply promised discounts. 

That follows a $6.1 million settlement last month with Washington state over similar allegations. 

In both, CenturyLink is enjoined from a host of practices it does not concede were deceptive and must adhere to a compliance regime. 

“Purchasing internet, phone service and cable is confusing enough without false promises, and confusing prices and fees. Today’s settlement sends a clear message that hidden fees and other forms of unfair and deceptive business practices will not be tolerated in Oregon,” said Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum. 

In neither settlement does CenturyLink acknowledge any deception, saying it "expressly denies any liability or wrongdoing and is entering into [the agreement] as a settlement of disputed claims and to avoid further inconvenience and costs of potential litigation." 

The FCC has launched an investigation into voice, video and broadband provider CenturyLink's 911 outage, and the FCC chairman is not happy.

“When an emergency strikes, it’s critical that Americans are able to use 911 to reach those who can help," said FCC Chairman Ajit Pai. "The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly."

At press time, CenturyLink said it was still working on the problem after initially signaling it should have been resolved earlier in the morning, informing customers in a series of tweets of ongoing issues preventing that resolution:

[embed]https://twitter.com/CenturyLink/status/1078512853664059392[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/CenturyLink/status/1078581735942770688[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/CenturyLink/status/1078616062747324416[/embed][embed]https://twitter.com/CenturyLink/status/1078678635387781120[/embed]

Pai said he had told the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to launch an investigation ASAP, including the impact of the outage on other 911 service by other providers.

Dish Network has hired former CenturyLink executive Atilla Tinic as senior VP and chief information officer.

Tinic, who held a similar title at Level 3 Communications when CenturyLink acquired it last year, will replace Rob Dravenstott, who quietly left Dish in August to join Chicago-based IoT company Cooler Screens.

At Dish, Tinic will lead IT strategy and operations for Dish TV, Sling TV and the wireless groups. The Denver resident will stay close to home, working out of Dish’s Englewood, Colo. headquarters.

He’ll report to Dish chief operating officer John Swieringa

"Atilla has proven that he can lead technology organizations that deliver innovation, plus he possesses that sense of adventure we look for in a leader," said Swieringa, in a statement. "His track record of business partnership will serve our enterprise today, as well as our future wireless business."

While Comcast has netted some key tier-1 providers for its X1 syndication program, suppliers that are more focused on the independent, small- and mid-tier portion of the cable industry have been locking in on new devices that are powered by Google’s Android TV platform.

Under an apps-based approach, those Android TV devices are being made to support a cable operator’s pay TV service alongside integrated access to over-the-top content from sources such as Netflix, and woven together via a unified interface.

The offer of these Android TV-based devices — either for rent or for outright sale — is also becoming more prominent as pay TV providers continue to migrate to IP-based video platforms.

Android TV has clearly become an attractive option for several service providers, or vendors that support them, in the U.S. and in Canada, including TiVo, Evolution Digital, MobiTV and Telus. Even Dish Network is getting into the Android TV act for its hospitality business.

Among them, Evolution Digital just launched the eSTREAM 4K, a device based on Android TV that uses voice navigation and can support the pay TV provider’s service (via an OTT app or a managed IPTV service) and integrate with other premium apps offered via Google Play.

That device can be branded by the multichannel video programming distributor and offered for sale or for rent, or be presented as a managed device, whereby the box boots up directly into the provider’s video application.

Android TV is attractive in this instance in part because, “it essentially brings all of the key components on the OTT side,” Brent Smith, Evolution Digital’s president and chief technology officer, said in a recent interview. “Access to the high value OTT world is one of the compelling reasons for Android TV.”

Related: Evolution Digital Debuts App-Based OTT-TV Platform for Smaller Cable Ops

Colin Dixon, chief analyst and founder at nScreenMedia, said: “It makes a lot of sense for operators to look into [an Android TV option]. It gets them where they need to be, and very quickly.”

Dixon said Android TV also makes business sense, given its lack of license fees, though suppliers and MVPDs will still need to outlay the costs for the back-end services, content encryption, customer management and other components that make up the overall solution.

On Board With Android TV

Among the pay TV tech suppliers that have developed or are working on Android TV-powered platforms:

• Evolution Digital: Last month, the company introduced the eSTREAM 4K, a product that can be deployed in different modes, including as a managed device from the pay TV operator, or to be sold outright.

• MobiTV: Its Connect platform is designed for an operator-managed, IP-based, app-based platform. MobiTV, which recently announced a deal with the National Cable Television Cooperative, said it supports several platforms, including Android TV devices such as the Nvidia Shield.

• TiVo: The company is pushing ahead with a device-agnostic approach that will help its MVPD partners migrate to an IP-based multiscreen platform. That work includes a client that will run on an MSO-managed Android TV device expected to be launched by mid-2018.

• Telus: Pik TV, Telus’s new slimmed-down IPTV package, runs on smartphones and tablets, and also works with an Android TV-based “media box” that is being sold for C$100.

• CenturyLink: CenturyLink Stream — a virtual MVPD service that’s in the process of being shut down as the telco instead seeks out partnerships with other OTT TV providers — had been offering the CenturyLink Player, an Android TV device made by LG Electronics, for $89.99.

• Dish Network: Last June, Dish launched Evolve, a 4K-capable, Android TV-powered “set-back” box and interface that is tailored for hotels and other partners in the hospitality market.
• Update: As a reader helpfully pointed out, AT&T/DirecTV also has Android TV on its radar. Per FCC documents, DirecTV is developing an Android TV-powered box that will rely on OTT distribution and support voice search/navigation and the 4K video format.

--This story also ran in the March 5 edition of Multichannel News (subscription required)

Less than a year after its debut as a beta offering, CenturyLink is shutting down CenturyLink Stream, a national OTT TV service that was available on several connected devices, including an Android TV box that was branded by the telco.

CenturyLink informed subscribers this week that all CenturyLink Stream services will end effective March 31, 2018.

RELATED: CenturyLink Bows Beta of OTT TV Service 

The CenturyLink Stream web site also notes that the service is indeed “ending,” and that it is no longer accepting new subscribers to the OTT TV service. Existing subscribers can continue to sign in and use the service until their current subscription period ends.

“Thank you to all who have streamed with us and provided feedback,” the company notes in the web site message.

To help soften the blow, the company is offering CenturyLink Stream customers to rent movies on the OTT service for free until March 31, 2018.

CenturyLink has not announced how many subscribers have signed on for the offering, and did not elaborate on the decision to shut down the beta and has not announced if it intends to reintroduce it at some point down the road.

CenturyLink, even after it introduced CenturyLink Stream, has shown a willingness to partner with third-party virtual MVPDs, so that kind of scenario might enter play if CenturyLink is interested in providing an OTT TV option to its broadband-only customers.

“[W]e are open to looking at other options,” Glen Post, CenturyLink’s CEO, said last August on the company’s Q2 earnings call. “Matter of fact, we continually talk with some of these other providers, look at the best ways we can bring that service and also other ways in working with them to reduce our content cost...It does not have to be our product.”

RELATED: CenturyLink Still Open to Partnerships With OTT TV Providers

CenturyLink already resells DirecTV satellite TV service, so it might not be a stretch to see the telco also offer a bundle involving DirecTV Now, AT&T’s OTT TV offering.

In fact, Windstream recently cut a new deal that enables it to bundle both the satellite TV service as well as DirecTV Now. Consolidated 

Consolidated Communications, meanwhile, is now pitching fuboTV, a sports-oriented OTT TV service, to broadband customers. That deal came way of a larger distribution agreement between fuboTV and the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC). PlayStation Vue has a similar pact with the NCTC

RELATED: NCTC Reaches Pact with fuboTV

Update: It appears that CenturyLink will indeed look into third-party arrangements for OTT. "CenturyLink continually evaluates the products and services we offer and makes changes when and where needed," a CenturyLink spokesperson said in a statement. "The CenturyLink Stream Beta will be discontinued in April 2018 and we will pursue new partnerships to meet emerging market trends in the video space."

CenturyLink Stream was set up to be a nationally available complement to Prism TV, CenturyLink’s in-footprint, full-freight, managed IPTV service that is powered by Ericsson Mediaroom platform. CenturyLink had talked about deemphasizing Prism TV service, or at least relegating its focus on the higher end of its customer base.

When it debuted, CenturyLink Stream’s baseline “Ultimate” package sold for $45 per month (discounted to $40 when bundled with CenturyLink’s high-speed internet service) for a linupe of almost 50 channels. Access to local broadcast networks and certain regional sports networks varied by location. The service’s cloud DVR could store up to 50 hours of programming.

CenturyLink Stream enabled subs to watch on up to three devices at the same time, and install the service on as many as 20 devices. It was set up to run on iOS and Android mobile devices, web browsers,  Roku players and Roku TVs, as well as the CenturyLink Player, an Android TV-powered device made by LG Electronics that CenturyLink was selling for $89.99.

The coming shut down of the CenturyLink Stream beta will remove one virtual MVPD from a list that includes Sling TV, DirecTV Now, PS Vue, YouTube TV, Hulu, Philo and fuboTV.

RELATED: Virtual MVPDs Ended 2017 with 5.3M Subs: Study

Democratic Montana Gov. Steve Bullock has signed an executive order that means suppliers of government broadband services must not block orthrottle web traffic or engage in paid prioritization, essentially restoring the net-neutrality rules the FCC rolled back last month.

Bullock signed the order in front of computer science students at his old high school, saying: "There has been a lot of talk around the country about how to respond to the recent decision by Federal Communications Commission to repeal net-neutrality rules, which keep the internet free and open. It’s time to actually do something about it."

Bullock called on other governors to follow his lead.

Related: States File Petitions to Undo Internet Rules Rollback

The governor's order stipulates that to receive a contract from the state, a broadband provider "must not block lawful content, throttle, impair or degrade lawful internet traffic on the basis of internet content, engage in paid prioritization, or unreasonably interfere or disadvantage the users’ ability to select, access, and use broadband internet access service."

The Helena, Mont., newspaper Independent Record was reporting that the state has about $50 million in contracts with providers that include Charter Communications, CenturyLink and AT&T.

The FCC's net-neutrality regulation rollback preempts state attempts to write their own internet regs, but a spokesperson was not available to comment on how that would apply to the executive order.

Despite having its own OTT TV service, CenturyLink remains open to partnering up with third-party virtual MVPDs, a group that currently includes Sling TV, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, Hulu, and fuboTV.

The telco’s own OTT TV service, currently in beta form and called CenturyLink Stream, has “compelling features” such as a cloud DVR and access to local broadcast and national channels, “but we are very open to looking at other options,” Glen Post, CenturyLink’s CEO, said Wednesday on the company’s Q2 earnings call.

RELATED: CenturyLink Bows Beta of OTT TV Service

“Matter of fact, we continually talk with some of these other providers, look at the best ways we can bring that service and also other ways in working with them to reduce our content cost,” he added. “It does not have to be our product.”

CenturyLink execs have previously raised the potential for striking partnerships with OTT services like DirecTV Now. CenturyLink also offers its own managed IPTV service, Prism TV, also resells/bundles DirecTV satellite TV service.

Some tier 2/3 cable operators are also eyeing distribution deals with virtual MVPDs as they seek new video options that are tailored for broadband-only customers. The National Cable Television Cooperation, a group that strikes programming and tech deals for independent cable operators, has forged agreements with fuboTV and PlayStation Vue, with more expected to follow.

GCI, meanwhile, has been promoting Sling TV as an option to its broadband subs, touting a 30 day free trial to the Dish Network-owned OTT service’s Orange package.

As CenturyLink’s aims to, OTT partnerships would aim to product new forms of bundles and generate more ARPU, Post said.

Post noted that CenturyLink has lost about 21,000 Prism TV customers as the telco continues to “deemphasize that product because of the margin issue of the higher content cost.”

RELATED: CenturyLink CFO: OTT-TV Offering Might Replace Prism TV Product

CenturyLink is inching toward the launch of a slimmed-down OTT TV product, anticipating a commercial launch in the early part of the third quarter.

“We are still in the process of technically trialing the product in four markets,” Maxine Moreau, CenturyLink’s president of consumer markets, said this week on the company’s Q1 earnings call.

“It's going well. We do plan to launch the service in early next quarter… We'll evaluate the pricing strategy, the packaging strategy and then we will phase-in the launch over the rest of the year,” she said.

That’s a bit of a delay from earlier stated plans that the OTT TV product would launch in early Q2, and then expand into more markets by mid-year and into the rest of 2017.

CenturyLink hasn’t explained why it has yet to pull the trigger, but I would assume they want to make sure they get things right and don’t stumble out of the gate.

Though CenturyLink already competes for video subs with its full-freight, managed IPTV service, Prism TV, its coming OTT-delivered skinny bundle will have to tangle with a handful of similar virtual MVPDs that already include Sling TV, YouTube TV, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, fuboTV, and Hulu’s new live TV service, which debuted this week in beta form.

RELATED: Hopkins: Hulu Live TV Will Make Money

CenturyLink, meanwhile, has already talked about deemphasizing Prism TV, a service powered by the Ericsson Mediaroom platform, as the telco moves forward with its new OTT TV package.

RELATED: CenturyLink CFO: OTT-TV Offering Might Replace Prism TV Product

However, CenturyLink stressed Prism TV will continue to be part of its video arsenal.

Moreau said the company will use Prism TV “to capture the higher value customers…so our video strategy will be one of offering multiple options to the customers, based on their purchasing needs.”

CenturyLink hasn’t announced pricing for the OTT product, but said it will be sold at a lower rate than Prism TV, allow customers to tack on genre-based programming packages, and not require a truck roll.

Those subs “can buy as little or as much as they would like, based on the different package offers we have and it will be targeted to those more cost-conscious, tech-savvy type of users,” she said.

What’s not clear yet is whether CenturyLink will only market and sell its OTT service inside its footprint or if its distribution rights for the service will allow for a national offering. I’ve asked CenturyLink to clarify that point.

UPDATE: CenturyLink confirmed that it will be rolling out the OTT product to customers in its own footprint as well as nationally.

CenturyLink has not formally announced a brand name for the OTT service, but last year documentation showed that it was kicking around the name “Prism Stream.”

CenturyLink may eventually replace its managed IPTV service, Prism TV, with an over-the-top product, if it’s able to secure the rights necessary to pull together a pay TV package with the channels that are critical to consumers, company CFO Stewart Ewing said this week at the UBS Global Media and Communications conference in New York.

CenturyLink is currently trialing a skinny-bundle OTT video service ahead of an expected commercial debut of a product in early 2017 that will include the local broadcast TV networks and support platforms such as Roku.

RELATED: CenturyLink Eyes Skinny Bundles for OTT Tilt

Ewing said CenturyLink has no plans to expand Prism TV beyond its current market reach.  CenturyLink ended Q3 with 318,000 Prism TV subscribers, up 7,000 from the prior quarter and up 49,000 from the year-ago period.  It offers Prism TV in several markets, including Minneapolis/St. Paul; Seattle; La Crosse and Platteville, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee and central and  southwest Florida;  Las Vegas; central N.C.; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Portland;  and Salt Lake City. 

Prism TV runs on the Ericsson (formerly Microsoft) Mediaroom platform. AT&T has also been distancing itself from U-verse, which also relies on Mediaroom, as it shifts more customers to DirecTV and looks for the technology platform underpinning DirecTV Now to serve as the foundation of its video future. 

RELATED: AT&T Stops Making U-verse TV Boxes: Report

“Frankly, we believe that, over time, the over-the-top product might replace the Prism product,” Ewing said.

He stressed that CenturyLink will continue to sell that product, but said the company believes it can eventually offer an OTT product at a good price point with the channels that are critical to consumers.

“The Prism TV service could go away over time,” Ewing added, noting that CenturyLink is hopeful to generate “some margin” out of its coming OTT offering.

Ewing said that CenturyLink expects to be able to offer an app-powered OTT product on a broader basis while also getting a bandwidth benefit. He estimates that the OTT product will need a 10 Mbps-or-better broadband connection, versus the 25 Mbps that must be allocated for the Prism TV service.

Ewing also opened the door to a potential, future partnership with DirecTV Now, the OTT-TV service that debuted on Nov. 30.  CenturyLink already resells the traditional satellite-based DirecTV service.

CenturyLink “didn’t know that AT&T was developing [an OTT product], too,” he said. “Otherwise we would just talk to them about potentially reselling theirs, and we may very well do that.”

As for what’s behind CenturyLink’s ongoing interest in video, “what we’re really interested in driving broadband growth,” he said.

Also in that area, he said CenturyLink hopes to gain some share with CAF II funding, enabling it to pass 1.2 million homes in markets where there’s not much in the way of broadband competition.

Elsewhere, CenturyLink is working on network enhancements that will enable it to offer 40 Mbps to 90% of its homes passed, and 100 Mbps to 70% of its footprint in the coming years. 

CenturyLink says the FCC's new business data services (BDS) proposal could mean crippling rate cuts while ignoring evidence of competition.

The company accused the FCC of a flawed and dangerous approach that lacked transparency.

The FCC last Thursday (Oct. 27) scheduled a vote for the November 17 public meeting on FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler's BDS revamp.

RELATED: It's official, CenturyLink is buying Level 3 Communications in a deal valued at about $34 billion.

The chairman is proposing what is billed as a tech-neutral approach to regulating business broadband--credit card transactions and ATM connections, for example--regulating it wherever the FCC finds markets are not competitive, maintaining price caps on incumbent/independent local exchange carriers (ILECs) and regulating new competitive local exchange carriers (CLECS), including cable broadband providers on a case-by-case basis. Initially the proposal was to impose ex ante (before the fact) price regulation on incumbents according to a geographic approach, but that was changed to the case-by-case model.

On Friday, Oc. 28, CenturyLink, which was no fan of the initial proposal, slammed the latest proposal and its ILEC price caps, saying there was no basis for cuts in ILEC rates, period, and that the FCC was lowballing the cuts it was proposing.

The FCC based its new approach to business broadband (formerly called "special access) on several years of data-collection, but CenturyLink says the commission's new proposal "suggests an intent to ignore" evidence of competition and impose not only a phased-in rate reduction but in some cases an additional, initial, rate reduction.

"The layering of these reductions on top of one another is buried within the proposal, and has the potential to seriously damage providers’ ability to recover from lost income," the company told the FCC. "This drastic rate cut would cripple many providers’ ability to continue providing quality service, much less have money left to invest in broadband innovation for the future.

Following rumors last week that a marriage was in the works, CenturyLink and Level 3 Communications announced Monday (Oct. 31) that they will merge in a deal valued at about $34 billion, including the assumption of debt.

Reports: CenturyLink Nears Level 3 Hookup

Under terms of the deal, Level 3 shareholders will receive $26.50 per share and a fixed exchange ratio of 1.4286 shares of CenturyLink stock for each Level 3 share they own. That, they said, implies a purchase price of $66.50 per Level 3 share (based on a CenturyLink $28.00 per share reference point), and a premium of about 42% based on Level 3’s closing share price of $46.92 on Oct. 26, 2016, the last trading day prior to speculation that a deal was in the works.

CenturyLink shareholders will own about 51% of the combined company, with Level 3 shareholders owning the balance.  They expect to close the deal by the end of third quarter 2017.

Among drivers of the deal, they said the combined scale will enable the companies company to deliver services  over a network that connects more than 350 metropolitan areas with about 75,000 on-net buildings. They expect the deal to achieve $975 million in annual run-rate cash synergies. 

They added that the deal will expand CenturyLink’s network by 200,000 route miles of fiber, noting that the additional on-net buildings include facilities in EMEA and Latin America. The combined company represents about $19 billion pro forma business revenue and $13 billion in “business strategic” revenue for the 12-month period ended June 30, 2016. About 76% of the combined company’s revenue will come from business customers. 

At close, Glen Post will continue to serve as CEO and president, while Sunit Patel, EVP and CFO of Level 3, will  serve as CFO of the combined company.  CenturyLink has also agreed to appoint four Level 3 Board members at closing, one of whom will be a representative of STT Crossing (a wholly owned subsidiary of ST Telemedia).

The combined company will be headquartered in Monroe, La., and keep a “significant presence” in Denver and other parts of Colorado, they said.

CenturyLink intends to finance the cash portion of the transaction and pay related fees and expenses through a combination of cash on hand at CenturyLink and Level 3, and approximately $7 billion of additional indebtedness.  CenturyLink has also received financing commitments from BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC totaling approximately $10.2 billion for new secured debt facilities, comprised of a new $2 billion secured revolving credit facility and approximately $8.2 billion of other secured debt facilities. 

"This transaction furthers our commitment to providing our customers with the network to improve their lives and strengthen their businesses,” Post said, in a statement. “It is this focus on providing fiber connectivity that will continue to distinguish CenturyLink from our competitors. CenturyLink shareholders will benefit from the significant synergies and financial flexibility provided by the combined company's revenue growth and strong cash flow. For employees, this combination will bring together two highly customer-focused organizations and provide employees growth and advancement opportunities the companies could not offer separately." 

“This is a compelling transaction for our customers, shareholders and employees," added Jeff Storey, president and CEO of Level 3. "In addition to the substantial value delivered to shareholders, the combined company will be uniquely positioned to meet the evolving and global needs of enterprise customers."

BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC acted as CenturyLink's financial advisors, and Evercore provided a fairness opinion. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz and Jones Walker are acting as CenturyLink's legal advisors. Citigroup acted as financial advisor to Level 3, and Lazard provided a fairness opinion. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP acted as legal advisor to Level 3. Latham & Watkins acted as legal advisor and Credit Suisse acted as financial advisor to ST Telemedia.

CenturyLink and Lumiere Fiber are partnering to bring 1-Gig services to Sterling Ranch, a master-planned community in Colorado being built in the northwest Douglas County area.

CenturyLink, which competes in the market with Comcast, has signed on as the exclusive broadband provider for Sterling Ranch, a 3,400-acre community that will be built out over about 20 years with an estimated 12,000 residenances. CenturyLink said it marks the first time it will bring gigabit service to an entire community in Colorado.

Sterling Ranch is a 3,400-acre, master-planned community that will continue to be built out over approximately 20 years with an estimated 12,000 residences. 

The 1-Gig offering will be offered at a “special rate” of $85 per month, include a wireless access point, with the option to get CenturyLink’s IP-based Prism TV service.

The partnership was announced Monday at a recently opened CenturyLink Solutions Store in Denver. Colorado Senate Majority Leader Mark Scheffel and State Representative Kim Ransom joined CenturyLink and Sterling Ranch execs for the announcement. 

Thanks in large part to the efforts of Google Fiber, and all the hype that goes with them, 1 Gbps represents the speed target that most ISPs are now shooting for, regardless of whether the vast majority of consumers actually need it in order to fulfill their video streaming needs and other broadband-intensive tasks.

CenturyLink does offer 1-Gig to residential customers in some areas, but likewise believes that 100 Mbps provides plenty of headroom for even the heaviest use-cases.

The company spent some time discussing this on its Q2 call on Wednesday, and presented a slide showing a use-case in which 75 Mbps was enough to handle two 4K streams, four HD streams alongside some other Internet activities.

“As you can see, even in this relatively high usage case, which is well beyond the vast majority of users' activity, [those needs] can be met with speeds of less than 100 megabits,” Glen Post, president and CEO of CenturyLink, said. “And that aligns with our own experience. We see speeds of 40 megabits to 100 megabits as competitive today in virtually all of our markets.”

But he also acknowledged that the usage curve will continue to rise (virtual and augmented reality apps and services will take a big bite of bandwidth, if they turn out to be mainstream hits). CableLabs CEO Phil McKinney has previously outlined some potential use-cases for 1-Gig, such as a "fast synch" apps that require a massive burst of bandwidth, but not necessarily sustained 1 Gbps speeds.

“Certainly there be users who will seek the gigabit connection, but for the vast majority of consumers, we see 100 megabits or 200 megabits as being more than sufficient to meet market demand for a number of years,” Post said.

CenturyLink, which is starting to test usage-based broadband policies, expects to enable speeds of 40 Mbps or more to 85% of its top 25 markets by the end of 2018 (or about 10.5 million addressable “units”), and north of 55% of those markets (or 7 million units) with 100 Mbps-plus by that time. 

By the end of 2019, CenturyLink is gunning for 11 million addressable broadband-enabled units to have 100 Mbps speeds or greater, and about 3 million with access to 1 Gbps or more.

He promised that “a lot of that improvement” will happen over the next 12 to 18 months.

CenturyLink shed more light on its over-the-top video plans, noting Wednesday on its Q2 call that those coming products will feature “skinny” bundles that include the local broadcast TV networks.

CenturyLink has been conducting a small OTT pilot under the Prism Stream brand, but plans to move ahead soon on “more robust trial,” Glen Post, president and CEO of CenturyLink, said on the earnings call.

Post said those skinny bundles, delivered to connected devices via an app, will include the broadcast networks, “which is a little different from a lot of…the offers that are out there today. We think that will be a differentiator as we bring those local channels with the over-the-top cable channels.”

That bigger pilot, slated for launch toward the end of 2016, aims to “really test the market in terms of pricing” and to penetrate areas that complement CenturyLink’s more traditional Prism TV offering, added Dean Douglas, the company’s president of sales and marketing.

CenturyLink is cutting separate distribution deals for the OTT product. Programming deals for CenturyLink’s Prism TV service are purchased through the telco’s partnership with the National Cable Television Cooperative (NCTC), a group that cuts programming and technology deals for an array of largely independent MVPDs.

“They key for getting the skinny bundles to work is having the right level of programming agreements in place,” Aamir Hussain, CenturyLink EVP and CTO, explained. “When we launch our TV over-the-top offering, that offering [is based on] new agreements with the broadcasters. And those agreements are not bound by any caps or by franchise agreements. So these are non-franchise-type agreements. They allow us to pretty much have a nationwide reach.”

Hussain also stressed that CenturyLink’s core skinny packages will be complemented with access to multiple genre-based packages. “That will have a very, very positive impact on our ARPU at a cost point, which makes sense for the consumer,” he said.

CenturyLink is just one of several service providers that plans to launch or has launched OTT services. Dish Network has Sling TV, and today announced new skinny-focused options under the “Flex Pack” brand for its satellite TV platform. AT&T, meanwhile, is preparing to launch a set of DirecTV-branded OTT services in the fourth quarter. Comcast has argued that the economics of an OTT service don’t add up. But the MSO will have an indirect line into the OTT arena as Hulu, which is partly owned by Comcast, prepares to launch a live streaming TV service early next year.

CenturyLink will use OTT to deliver video services outside its traditional footprint. Today, CenturyLink is bundling DirecTV where it does not offer Prism TV.

CenturyLink ended Q2 with 311,000 Prism TV subs, up from 258,000 in the year-ago quarter. It has launched Prism TV in markets such as Minneapolis/St. Paul; Seattle; La Crosse and Platteville, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee and central and  southwest Florida;  Las Vegas; central N.C.; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Portland;  and Salt Lake City.

CenturyLink dropped 65,000 broadband subs in Q2, ending the period with 5.99 million.

Post said broadband numbers dropped in part to a focus on acquiring “higher-value bundled customers and less emphasis on standalone broadband customers.”  

He said a “significant percentage of the churn” came from standalone broadband customers that are “less loyal than our traditional bundled customers.”

On the financial end, CenturyLink posted revenues of $4.4 billion, down from $4.42 billion in the year-ago quarter, alongside net income of $196 million (36 cents per share), up from $143 million/26 cents.

The company expects Q3 revenues of $4.35 billion to $4.4 billion, and earnings of 52 cents to 57 cents per share. 

Broadband data policies that place a soft cap on monthly usage and charge more for additional buckets of data are rapidly becoming the norm among the nation’s Internet-service providers.

Such policies are now commercially deployed by Suddenlink (now part of Altice USA), Mediacom Communications and AT&T, as well as smaller service providers such as GCI. Meanwhile, Comcast continues to expand its usage-based trials, while CenturyLink is slated to start kicking the tires on a new broadband data policy later this week.

Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, confirmed that it recently notified customers in the Chicago market area that the MSO’s data plan trial will get underway Aug. 1. When that trial launches, it will become the largest market in Comcast’s footprint so far to test the MSO’s new policy. In addition to greater Chicago, Comcast is also poised to test usage-based policies in Quincy and Rockford, Ill., and in its Northern Indiana systems, also starting Aug. 1.

Comcast introduced a 1-TB plan in April, replacing a 300- GB plan it had been implementing in most of its trial markets.

If customers exceed the 1-TB limit, they have the option to purchase additional buckets of 50 GBs of data for $10 each (up to a maximum of $200), or move to a new unlimited data plan that runs an additional $50 per month.

Comcast has not announced if or when it will expand the policy to all markets. In addition to the new markets coming online Aug. 1, other trial markets include Huntsville, Mobile and Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Tucson, Ariz.; Little Rock, Ark.; Fort Lauderdale, the Keys and Miami, Fla.; Atlanta, Augusta and Savannah, Ga.; Central Kentucky; Houma, LaPlace and Shreveport, La.; Maine; Jackson and Tupelo, Miss.; Chattanooga, Greeneville, Johnson City/Gray, Knoxville, Memphis and Nashville, Tenn.; Charleston, S.C.; and Galax, Va.

Reed Hastings, the CEO of Netflix, the OTT giant and critic of usage-based policies, praised Comcast when it announced the new 1-TB plan, tweeting: “Huge for me as a Comcast customer. Now I’ll never be able to watch enough to hit my cap.”

Perhaps not too coincidentally, Comcast and Netflix announced a deal a few weeks later that calls for the MSO to integrate Netflix on Comcast’s X1 platform sometime this year.

GCI, the Alaska-based operator, also made some waves last week, announcing that it had raised the monthly limit of “Red,” its 1 Gigabit-per-second residential cable modem service, from 750 GBs to 1 TB. Customers on Red, which is paired with an upstream that maxes out at 50 Mbps, have the option to purchase additional 30-GB buckets of data for $10 when they exceed their monthly limit.

But GCI has added a different twist to the usage-based approach. Under a “No Worries” option launched in January 2015, customers can buy additional buckets of data, upgrade to a different plan, or shift temporarily to a “basic” level of service of less than 1 Mbps with no overages.

CenturyLink is the latest provider to jump on the usage-based bandwagon. It confirmed last week that it will launch a usage-based billing trial in Yakima, Wash., on Tuesday (July 26) that will charge $10 for a bucket of 50 GBs of data (up to a maximum of $50) when customers exceed their monthly limit.

Under the trial, subscribers of service plans with speeds up to 7 Mbps can consume up to 300 GBs per month, while those that have speeds of more than 7 Mbps will be capped at 600 GBs before the usage-based policy is applied.

CenturyLink has not announced the length of the Yakima trial or when it might look to expand it to other markets. “CenturyLink will analyze the data from this trial to determine next steps and make decisions regarding further rollout of usage-based billing,” a company official said.

Though usage-based broadband policies and overage charges are increasingly becoming part of ISP strategies, critics of them maintain that they are in place to increase revenue while keeping OTT video competition in check.

For its part, Comcast has argued that its trials “are based on principles of flexibility and fairness” and that more than 99% of its high-speed Internet subscribers don’t come within a whiff of using a terabyte.

One MSO that will be sitting on the sidelines with regard to usage-based broadband pricing for the foreseeable future is Charter Communications. Charter, per a condition of its acquisitions of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, is prohibited from imposing data caps or implementing usage-based polices for a period of seven years.

CenturyLink appears poised to join ISPs such as Comcast, AT&T and Mediacom Communications that are testing or have launched usage-based policies for residential broadband services.

Per updated policy data spotted by DSL Reports, CenturyLink plans to kick off a usage-based billing trial in Yakima, Wash., starting July 26, that will charge $10 for a bucket of 50 gigabytes per data when customers exceed their monthly limit.

According to CenturyLink's current data policy FAQ, customers will get a grace period, as they will not be charged for the first two months that they exceed their monthly usage cap.

Customers who are subject to the test policy will receive an electronic “no charge” warning the first two times.  During months that customers are not billed, they’ll receive online alerts when they approach 85% of their data plan.

“Thereafter, if you exceed your usage limit, you will be billed for the overage without additional notice other than electronic alerts as you are approaching your monthly usage limit,” the FAQ notes, adding that those customers will receive online alerts when they are within 65% and 85% of their monthly data allotments.

Under the trial, service plans with speeds up to 7 Mbps can consume up to 300 GB per month, while those that have speeds of more than 7 Mbps will be capped at 600 GB before the usage-based policy is applied.  

The maximum additional monthly data usage charge CenturyLink will bill in the test market is $50, regardless of total usage.  Some CenturyLink customers are excluded from the usage-based trial and the telco’s more widely implemented excessive use policy, including business customers and 1-gig customers.

CenturyLink has not announced the length of the Yakima trial or when it might look to expand it to other markets. The telco has been asked for further comment.

Update: CenturyLink provided this comment: 

CenturyLink is conducting usage-based billing trials in Yakima, WA, to allow customers to control their Internet usage. This gives our customers proactive management of their usage and ensures they are being billed fairly. Very few customers will see any change in what they pay for Internet service, as customers will only be billed an additional amount if they exceed the Internet usage limit for the High-Speed Internet plan they purchased.

CenturyLink will analyze the data from this trial to determine next steps and make decisions regarding further roll-out of usage-based billing.

CenturyLink, which is developing a pair of OTT video products, hinted in February that it was mulling usage-based broadband policies.

"Regarding the metered data plans, we are considering that for second half of the year," CenturyLink CFO Stewart Ewing said at the time. "We think it is important and our competition is using the metered plans today and we think that exploring those starts and trials later this year is our expectation.”

Add CenturyLink, AT&T Inc., Frontier Communications, FairPoint, Consolidated Communications, and Cincinnati Bell to the list of those who want the FCC to revisit its business data services (BDS) decision.

Actually CenturyLink et al. were already on the list. They have just redoubled their efforts as the July 26 deadline approaches for final comments on the BDS decision, which was billed as a tech-neutral approach to regulating business broadband (formerly "special access") (http://www.multichannel.com/news/fcc/wheeler-proposes-tech-neutral-speci...).

That came in a second request from the incumbent telcos for the FCC to strike a report on the business data services market (the so-called Rysman Report) and conduct new peer reviews of the revised version of the report.

The FCC collected data from stakeholders on the BDS marketplace for several years before releasing the first report which it used to buttress its case for BDS reforms. It only recently put out the peer reviews. But cable operators had to submit some new data and the report was tweaked and re-released along with the new data. That came on the same day initial comments were due on the BDS proposal based in part on the report.

CenturyLink and the others say that should warrant new peer reviews of the report, which should then be put out for comment.

"These steps are not discretionary," they told the FCC, "but rather mandated by the Administrative Procedure Act (APA), the DQA, and basic notions of procedural due process. Failure to take them would preclude reliance on either the original Rysman paper or the revised analysis in any final Commission order...As it now stands, the current version of that report has not been subject to such review, and parties have been unable to comment on any such reviews. If the commission does not take such steps, it cannot rely on the Rysman Report or the Revised Rysman Report in any final decision."

The Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, or HITN-TV, is being added to CenturyLink's Prism TV service as part of the Paquete Latino Spanish-language offering as of Wednesday, July 20, the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based programmer said. “HITN-TV is very pleased CenturyLink will offer our channel to its Prism TV lineup. This addition affirms our recent shift in programming and the increase in viewership HITN-TV has had during the first half of 2016,” Eric Turpin, HITN’s general manager, said in a release. HITN-TV will air on Channel 3055 in all Prism TV markets.

UPDATE: beIN Sports also said it's being launched today (July 20) on CenturyLink's Prism TV service. beIN Sports joins the Prism Preferred and Prism Sports Plus packages on channels 662 and 1662 in HD and beIN SPORTS en Español will now be available through the Prism Paquete Latino package on channels 3119 and 4119 in HD. “This agreement with CenturyLink allows us to reach a larger fan base, providing new viewers with access to leading soccer and global sporting events,”  Yousef Al-Obaidly, deputy CEO of beIN Media Group, said in a release. “This partnership marks an integral step in our network’s expansion, and is a testament to our continued efforts to strengthen our offerings and provide unrivaled programming to even more viewers across the U.S.”

Hunting-focused Pursuit Channel also said it has a carriage agreement with CenturyLink to launch on Prism TV this fall. “Pursuit Channel is thrilled to offer world class outdoor programming to millions of CenturyLink customers,” Rusty Faulk, CEO and founder of Pursuit Channel, said in a release. “This agreement, on the heels of other recent launches, greatly expands the opportunities for us to reach more outdoor enthusiasts.”

Some top ILECs including AT&T, Frontier and CenturyLink, are telling the FCC that it should scrap the business data services analysis on which it based its refrom proposals, saying that cable operators lowballed the number of locations that should be deemed competitive.

The ILECS (incumbent local exchange carriers) have filed a petition asking the FCC discount as "irretrievably flawed" the data underlying its politically divided vote April 28 to propose remaking the business broadband marketplace and potentially regulating rates for cable operators' special access service.

The FCC is phasing out the presumption of regulating the rates of historically "dominant carriers" -- the ILECs (incumbent local exchange carriers) -- as a way to boost competition from "nondominant" CLECs (competitive local exchange carriers) and from cable competitors, and instead regulate the rates of any of them as it deems necessary.

They pointed to "recent acknowledgements by four of the largest cable providers that they significantly undercounted the number of locations that are capable of providing business data services and thus deemed competitive. In fact, the cable companies’ most recent FCC filings reflect 22 times more Ethernet-capable locations than the data on which the FCC based its May 2 further notice of proposed rulemaking (FNPRM)."

They cited ex parte filings by Cox, Comcast, Charter and Time Warner Cable saying they "had not reported locations connected to nodes that had been physically upgraded to enable the provision of Ethernet-over-HFC service as of 2013," according to CenturyLink et al.

Cable operators say the FCC asked the question about locations in two different ways--where service was provided, then where it could be provided without too much diffulty--and answered both questions fully. Cable operators also asked the FCC to extend the comment period for the proposal, which was denied.

But the ILECs say initially excluding that second, more complete, answer "massively distorted the competitive landscape," particularly the finding of market power by ILECs, which they say is fatally flawed.

“We are extremely concerned that the FCC’s latest business broadband proposal is now based on fatally flawed data that, unless corrected and updated, could have serious economic consequences for the business broadband market,” said CenturyLink SVP John Jones in a statement about the petition. “We’re asking the FCC to rescind the affected portions of its proposal and update its data before pronouncing judgment on what is or isn’t competitive.”

The National Cable & Telecommunications Association, whose members include those four cable operators, had no comment on the petition.

CenturyLink's Prism TV today (April 19) launched Prism Sports Plus, a package of six full-time channels and five part-time services for $8.99 per month. New additions to the Prism TV lineup via the tier are Fox-distributed YES Network and Fox Soccer Plus; ESPN's Bases Loaded (baseball), Buzzer Beater (basketball) and Goal Line (football) college-sports live look-in services; MLB Strike Zone, the pro-baseball look-in service; Anthem Media's Fight Network and Fantasy Sports Network; equestrian-focused Ride TV and international-focused One World Sports.

NFL Red Zone, the pro football look-in service that Prism TV had offered for a $64.99 annual fee, also is included in the new sports package, an increasingly popular way for multichannel distributors to increase their sports-programming quotient without adding to expanded-basic programming charges.

Anthem and One World Sports put out press releases announcing their additions onto Prism TV, the IP-based service that ended 2015 with a reported 285,000 customers amid a possible universe of 3.2 million homes.

The telco has launched Prism TV in markets including Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn.; Seattle; LaCrosse and Platteville, Wisc.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee and central and southwest Florida; Las Vegas; central North Carolina; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Portland, Ore., and Salt Lake City. Some markets will see the Sports Plus service launch on May 20, CenturyLink said. All services have launched in high-definition format in addition to standard definition.

One World Sports said it has signed a multi-year, multi-platform carriage deal with CenturyLink for its Prism TV service, making more than 2,600 hours of the channel’s live sports programming available to subscribers to the IP-based service.

“CenturyLink provides a great opportunity for more viewers, across multiple states, to sample all of the exciting, live sports content that can only be found on ONE World Sports,” said One World’s executive vice president, distribution Randy Brown in a statement. “Prism TV customers with the new Prism Sports Plus package will be exposed to top talent from around the globe in soccer, cricket, basketball, hockey, rugby and so much more.”

One World recently added PRO Rugby and the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships to its lineup for May. Cricket also returns to the network next month with the English Cricket National Board vs Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Soccer dominates in April and May with the start of the North American Soccer League featuring defending champions New York Cosmos and the network’s carriage of the European Soccer Channels – Arsenal FC, Barcelona FC, FC Bayern Munich, Chelsea FC and Juventus FC.

Ride TV has signed a distribution pact with CenturyLink that will see the equestrian-focused programmer added to the Prism TV Sports Plus package on April 19. The network, which launched in 2014, also is carried nationwide by satellite-TV provider Dish Network and by wireline distributors Armstrong Cable, Jefferson County Cable, Shentel and Windstream. 

“We are extremely pleased to have reached this agreement with CenturyLink. Being able to tell the stories and show the unique lifestyles of real horsemen and women (to an audience who would not ordinarily see it) has been a life-long goal,” Ride TV president Craig Morris said in a release. “I want to personally thank the leadership at CenturyLink for recognizing the important role that horses have played in shaping the world we live in. There would be no cowboy if it were not for the horse.”

“Prism TV has experienced exponential growth over the past few years and their markets line up perfectly with our core demographic,” network SVP of global distribution Michael Trujillo said in the release. “As they continue their expansion across the United States, we’ll be right there with them providing their subscribers with unique programming that embraces the equestrian lifestyle.”

Newsmax TV has reached carriage agreements with CenturyLink and GCI, the cable news network announced Wednesday (Feb. 24).

With the deals -- terms of which were not disclosed -- Newsmax now reaches nearly 45 million US homes through its cable partners, DirecTv and Dish Network, according to network officials.

 “We are pleased that CenturyLink and GCI are embracing Newsmax TV’s approach along with our programming and look forward to welcoming new audiences in these key parts of the country,” Newsmax TV CEO Christopher Ruddy said in a statement.

Indicating a further ramp up in its pay TV business, CenturyLink said it ended 2015 with 3.2 million homes enabled for Prism TV, its IP-based service that is currently powered by the Ericsson Mediaroom platform.

During Q4, the telco added 16,000 Prism TV subs, ending the year with 285,000. CenturyLink added more than 190,000 addressable homes for the service in new and existing service areas during the quarter. It has launched Prism TV in markets such as Minneapolis/St. Paul; Seattle; La Crosse and Platteville, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee and central and  southwest Florida;  Las Vegas; central N.C.; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Portland;  and Salt Lake City.

During its Q4 call on Wednesday, CenturyLink did not provide any additional details about its OTT service trials.

On the data side, CenturyLink lost 22,000 high-speed Internet subs in Q4 due in part to “tighter credit standards” implemented in mid-2015. But it ended the year with about  940,000 addressable GPON homes and 490,000 addressable GPON business locations. CenturyLink, company CEO Glen Post said, now provides speeds of 40 Mbps or higher in north of 30% of its footprint.

CenturyLink CFO Stewart Ewing said the telco is also mulling metered-data plans for broadband, perhaps taking a step closer to policies being tested or implemented by ISPs such as Comcast, AT&T and Suddenlink Communications.

"Regarding the metered data plans, we are considering that for second half of the year," he said. "We think it is important and our competition is using the metered plans today and we think that exploring those starts and trials later this year is our expectation.”

CenturyLink posted Q4 operating revenues of $4.48 billion, up slightly from $4.44 billion in the year-ago period. Broken down further, consumer segment revenues were $1.51 billion, up 1.3%.

The telco also posted net income of $338 million, versus $188 million in the year-ago quarter. 

CenturyLink said it has lit up a fiber-based symmetrical 1 Gbps offering for multi-tenant unit office building in the Houston area, a launch that brings more commercial services competition to Comcast, the city's incumbent cable operator.

CenturyLink  said platform will offer a range of IP-based services, including multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), optical wave service, Ethernet and VoIP. More than 300 data centers and thousands of business locations are directly connected to CenturyLink’s 250,000-route-mile U.S. fiber network and its 300,000-route-mile international transport network, the company said.

“Access to super-fast, reliable business broadband service is a determining factor for many companies when leasing office space,” said Laura Bacon Morgan, Houston MTU fiber program manager at CenturyLink, said in a statement. “CenturyLink consults with office building landlords and leasing agents who want to attract sophisticated, technology-driven business tenants. A business can quickly activate Internet service that meets or exceeds its connectivity requirements in a building that is pre-lit with CenturyLink fiber.”

Houston is the latest city to join CenturyLink’s 1-gig mix. Last May, the company announced it had made 1 Gbps FTTP services available to about 500,000 U.S. business locations.

CenturyLink president and CEO Glen Post said the telco is inching closer toward field trials of over-the-top video services that will focus on skinny bundles and younger millennial audiences.

Post, following up on OTT-related plans he revealed in August, said CenturyLink hopes to trial the OTT offerings in two or three markets later this year and into early 2016.

Those OTT offerings “will help us with the millennials and be a lower-cost option” and complement how CenturyLink deploys Prism TV, its  traditional IPTV subscription service, Post said Wednesday on the company’s third quarter earnings call.

Post said CenturyLink is finalizing content agreements to “enable a robust and competitive video offering for customers, both within and outside our Prism TV market footprint.”

Aamir Hussain, the former Liberty Global exec who joined CenturyLink as EVP and chief technology officer last fall, said CenturyLink is working on two different types of OTT products.  

“One is a skinny bundle with local, linear and premium [that] will have upsell opportunity for a kid's package, entertainment package,” Hussain said. “The second product that we are looking to do is in our franchise markets where we have Prism [TV] rights…just taking the same content and offering it on an over-the-top content along with an aggregation of other video services which are used by our customers today.”

Meanwhile, Comcast, one of CenturyLink's competitors, is nearing the commercial launch of Stream, a contract-free video serivce to be delivered to the home to mobile devices over managed IP links (meaning it's not "over-the-top" because that traffic will not co-mingle with spectrum used for its high-speed Internet service)  that will feature the major broadcast networks, HBO, and the MSO's cloud DVR and cost $15 per month.

CenturyLink, which has been evaluating the Reference Design Kit as it pursues a next-gen video platform, is also expanding the reach of Prism TV.

Post said the telco added 360,000 addressable Prism TV homes in the third quarter, expanding that total to 3 million, a figure that “exceeds our expansion target for the year as we pulled forward some 2016 expansion plans into this year.”

In addition, we're developing an over-the-top platform and finalizing content agreements to enable a robust and competitive video offering for customers, both within and outside our Prism TV market footprint.

CenturyLink signed on about 11,300 Prism TV subs in Q3, raising that total to about 269,000. 

The telco is also trying to make strides with broadband. It currently offers fiber-to-the-premises (via GPON) to 780,000 homes in 16 markets, and is trialing new technologies that will enable up to 200 Mbps on CenturyLink’s legacy copper networks.

Those DSL trials are “in the early stages, but [are] showing good promise,” Post said.

Though boosting speed is a broadband priority for the telco, it lost 37,000 high-speed Internet subs in Q3, lowering its total to 6.1 million, as it tightened up its credit and collection processes. Those new process also had a negative impact on Prism TV sub growth.

On the financial end, CenturyLink posted Q3 operating revenues of $4.55 billion, down from $4.51 billion in the year-ago quarter, due in part to a $150 million increase in support revenues linked to the acceptance of Connect America Fund Phase 2 (CAF Phase 2) support in the period. Net income was $205 million (37 cents per share), up from $188 million (33 cents per share).

The telco pulled in $1.15 billion in consumer-facing revenues, up $18 million or 1.2% from the year-ago quarter.

Viamedia said it has renewed its agreement with CenturyLink to continue to represent the advertising sales for the telco’s Prism TV service in various markets. 

The new deal also includes Denver, where Viamedia will represent CenturyLink ad avails on top national cable networks.

CenturyLink has also launched Prism TV Seattle; La Crosse and Platteville, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee and central and  southwest Florida;  Las Vegas; central N.C.; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Portland; Salt Lake City; and Minneapolis. CenturyLink, which is developing an OTT service that can be offered in and out of wireline footprint, ended the second quarter with 258,000 Prism TV customers.

“CenturyLink Prism TV, an alternative to cable and satellite services, is an interactive TV service delivered through CenturyLink’s nationwide fiber optic network. We are delighted to continue as their advertising sales representative,” Viamedia CEO Mark Lieberman said, in a statement. 

Viamedia said it currently provides traditional ad sales to over 50 MVPDs , more than 70 of the largest DMAs, and serves more than 1.2 million TV ads daily. 

CenturyLink said it has deployed its fiber-based, symmetrical 1-Gig broadband service to residences and businesses in parts of six more states, and is on track to its gigabit offering available to about 700,000 homes by the end of 2015.

With the latest state additions (parts of Arizona, Idaho, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina and South Dakota), CenturyLink now offers the service in 17 states. Others include Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Ohio, and Florida. CenturyLink kicked off gigabit services in Omaha in 2013.

CenturyLink’s 1-Gig network and service expansions come as it and other telcos come under more competitive pressure cable operators that are using a mix of DOCSIS 3.0- and fiber-based technologies to deliver gigabit speeds. On the horizon is DOCSIS 3.1, a multi-gigabit platform for HFC networks.

“We said from the very beginning that we weren’t going to just talk about bringing gigabit speeds to our customers, but that we were going to deliver these speeds now. That’s exactly what we’ve done,” Shirish Lal, CenturyLink chief marketing officer, said in a statement. “Consumers and small businesses are ready for a broadband service that is capable of keeping up with today’s bandwidth demands. With the proliferation of the Internet of Things and the connection of everyday objects to the Internet and to one another, we are pleased to deliver speeds that can support these new technologies.”

CenturyLink is also deploying its pay TV service, Prism TV, through its fiber optic network. It has launched Prism TV in Seattle, La Crosse and Platteville, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee and central and  southwest Florida;  Las Vegas; central N.C.; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Portland; Salt Lake City; and Minneapolis.

CenturyLink, which is developing an OTT service that can be offered in and out of wireline footprint, ended the second quarter with 258,000 Prism TV customers.

CenturyLink said it has launched its IP-based Prism TV service in Seattle, a debut that will apply some additional video pressure on incumbent MSO Comcast as well as DirecTV-AT&T and Dish Network.

CenturyLink noted that its IPTV service will be delivered via its 1-Gig fiber optic network in Seattle. Prism TV, the company said, is currently available to 100,000 homes and 5,500 business locations in the Seattle area, including neighborhoods such as West Seattle, Ballard, Beacon Hill, Central District, Capitol Hill, Mount Baker and Green Lake.

“We appreciate the City of Seattle’s role in modernizing outdated regulations that allowed us to build our fiber optic network and bring new competitive choices to the market, first our gigabit service and now Prism TV,” Sue Anderson, CenturyLink’s VP of operations for Washington, said in a statement.

In addition to Seattle, CenturyLink has also launched Prism TV in La Crosse and Platteville, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee and central and  southwest Florida;  Las Vegas; central N.C.; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.; Portland; Salt Lake City; and Minneapolis.

Prism TV features a wireless set-top/whole-home DVR, an authenticated mobile app and access to TV Everywhere such as HBO Go, Max Go, Starz Play and Showtime Anytime.

CenturyLink, which is developing an OTT service that can be offered in and out of wireline footprint, ended the second quarter with 258,000 Prism TV customers.

Earlier this year, CenturyLink confirmed that it is evaluating the Reference Design Kit (RDK) as it explores a next-gen version of its IPTV platform. The RDK is a pre-integrated software stack for IP-capable and hybrid IP/QAM set-tops and gateways that’s being managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global. CenturyLink’s Prism TV service is currently powered by Ericsson Mediaroom, the middleware platform Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in September 2013.

Among 262 companies whose websites were evaluated by 10,000 consumers, six cable MSOs were among the lowest-scoring organizations on the list.

The "2015 Web Experience Ratings," conducted by the Temkin Group, a customer experience research and consulting firm, examines consumers' likelihood to forgive companies for a poor experience at their websites. The Waban, Mass.-based firm included nearly 300 companies across 20 industries, including pay TV service and Internet service.

Overwhelmingly, consumers indicated they were unlikely to forgive Time Warner Cable, Comcast and CenturyLink (all three tied at #252 of the 262 firms) and Frontier (dead last at #262) for lackluster website experiences in the Internet service category; and TWC (#256), Comcast (#258), Charter Communications (#260) and Cox Communications (#261) in the pay TV service category.

Additionally, Cox was one of the companies that fell the most in the annual ranking from last year, Temkin Group noted, with only 29% of respondents saying they could forgive the MSO for a poor online experience. The two categories earned "very weak" ratings across the board while banks and credit card issuers generally had "strong" ratings.

"It's ironic that many of the cable companies that provide Internet service earned such poor ratings," Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group, said.

The top spot went to USAA for its banking business (it was also ranked at #3 for its credit card business and #13 for its insurance business), while Amazon took second place for its retail business (as well as fourth place in the computers category). Temkin Group said the two companies had traded the No. 1 and No. 2 spots for the five years it has been conducting the study.

Google Fiber acknowledges that it’s continuing to have discussions with city officials in Portland, Ore., about bringing its mix of 1-Gig and pay TV services there, but isn’t confirming if or when it might pull the trigger on an actual deployment.

A report in The Oregonian (hat tip: DSL Reports), citing an official with a tech organization in Charlotte, N.C., (a city that is getting Google Fiber), indicates that a decision to bring Google Fiber to Portland has been made.  Alan Fitzpatrick, a co-founder of Charlotte Hearts Gigabit, told the pub that Google managers told his group that “Portland is going to be the next city…I almost thought one of them told me something they weren't supposed to."

That would indeed be a surprise (especially to the area’s incumbent providers, which include Comcast, Frontier Communications and CenturyLink), as Portland is still listed as a “potential” Google Fiber city (along with including Beaverton, Hillsboro,  Gresham, Lake Oswego, and Tigard ) that was not among the 18-city expansion announced in January.

Google Fiber responded to the speculation with this statement: “It’s great to see people excited about what’s next for Fiber, but we don’t have any announcements for now. We continue to work with cities to explore bringing Google Fiber to the Portland area.”

The Oregonian, meanwhile, points to other evidence suggesting that consumers in Portland should at least keep their hopes up, noting that Google has already nabbed a franchise agreement with the city and has posted Portland-area job openings.

Comcast, meanwhile, has already identified Portland as a deployment spot for Gigabit Pro, a symmetrical 2 Gbps residential service that will be deployed on a targeted basis using FTTP.

CenturyLink has turned up its IP-delivered Prism TV service in Salt Lake City, where it will now compete for video subs with incumbent cable op Comcast and DirecTV and Dish Network (and Sling TV).  Google Fiber is also getting ready to launch its mix of 1-Gig and pay TV services in the Salt Lake City area.

CenturyLink said the launch of Prism TV in Salt Lake City follows its deployment last year of fiber-fed 1 gigabit per second (Gbps) broadband to residential and business customers in Salt Lake City and other Utah communities.

The launch follows a recent Prism TV debut in Portland, Ore., where CenturyLink also faces off with Comcast. Prism TV, which features a wireless set-top box, whole-home DVR, access to a mobile TV Everywhere app, and VOD, has also been launched in La Crosse, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee, Fla. (and areas covering central and southwest Florida; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver, Colorado Springs, and Highlands Ranch, Colo.

CenturyLink added 8,000 Prism TV subs in the first quarter of 2015, ending the quarter with more than 249,000 -- a penetration rate of 10.2%. The company also added 73,000 homes to its addressable TV footprint in the quarter, expanding that total to 2.4 million.  CenturyLink expects to expand Prism TV to about 425,000 additional homes through the rest of 2015.

Prism TV currently uses the Ericsson Mediaroom platform, but is developing a next-gen video platform that is including an evaluation of the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable set-tops and gateways that’s being managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global, in the process. 

"Prism TV is different from other television services in Salt Lake City. It delivers a digital connection to the home, providing a combination of interactive features, a wireless set-top box and a large selection of HD channels," said Jeremy Ferkin, CenturyLink’s vice president of Utah operations, in a statement. “Prism TV service is complemented by our aggressive fiber broadband deployment in Utah that includes Internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second."

Comcast said it has begun to rollout “Gigabit Pro,” its fiber-fed symmetrical 2 Gbps residential broadband service in Houston and Denver, while also introducing a new DOCSIS 3.0-based 250 Mbps service that’s delivered on the MSO’s hybrid fiber/coax plant.

In Houston, Comcast said it will launch Gigabit Pro this summer and make it available to 1.5 million homes. The new D3.0 service, Extreme 250, is available now.

Notably, AT&T launched its 1-Gig residential service, “GigaPower,” to parts of Houston in April, starting at $110 per month.

In Colorado, Comcast said it will offer Gigabit Pro to nearly 1 million homes in the metro Denver area and Colorado Springs this summer, along with widespread availability of the new 250-Meg service. Comcast’s primary wireline competitor there is CenturyLink, which has already launched a 1-Gig service in the Denver area. That summer deployment will also reach into Fort Collins, Loveland and Longmont, according toThe Denver Post.

Update: Comcast also announced it has begun to deploy Gigabit Pro in Utah (Google Fiber is operating in Provo); Washington State (including Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, and Everett); to 650,000 customers in Oregon and southwest Washington; to more than 600,000 homes in Minneapolis/St. Paul; and, starting in June, to about 190,000 customers in Knoxville, Tenn., and its surrounding communities. 

Comcast plans to make Gigabit Pro available to 18 million homes by the end of the year. The service, which relies on targeted fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) deployments, will be available to residential customers who are within “close proximity” (about a third of a mile) of the MSO’s fiber network. Deployments are also underway in Chicago and northwest Indiana; Chattanooga, Tenn.; Atlanta; parts of Florida, including Miami and Jacksonville; and certain areas of California

Comcast has not announced pricing for Gigabit Pro, though a promotional Web site that appeared temporarily indicated that the service would start at $299 per month. At the time, Comcast said the site was put up in error and that pricing, including introductory and promotional rates for Gigabit Pro, were still being considered.

The MSO will also deliver gigabit residential speeds using DOCSIS 3.1, an emerging next-gen IP platform for HFC that Comcast is currently testing ahead of deployments expected to begin in early 2016.

Comcast offered a preview of a D3.1-based  “Gigabit Home Gateway” at the INTX show in Chicago,  noting that the device will enter production this year and become available to customers in early 2016. 

CenturyLink has launched its IP-delivered Prism TV service to parts of Portland, Ore., where the telco will duke it out for video subs with Comcast and its X1 platform, as well as with DirecTV and Dish Network.

CenturyLink said Prism TV is currently available to Portland residents and businesses with fiber service in the Sunnyside, Hawthorne, Belmont, Richmond, Mt. Tabor, Kerns, Hosford-Abernethy, Creston-Kenilworth, Sellwood-Moreland, Buckman, Brooklyn and Laurelhurst neighborhoods, and has set up a Web site that allows customers to register and be notified when Prism TV is offered in their area. 

The Oregonian, which has created a map that tracks which portions of Portland are eligible for the fiber-fed service, noted that CenturyLink is also talking to local officials about expanding the service to Vancouver and Lake Oswego.

Prism TV features a wireless set-top box, whole-home DVR, access to a mobile TV Everywhere app, and VOD.

CenturyLink also offers IPTV services in La Crosse, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee, Fla. (and areas covering central and southwest Florida; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver, Colorado Springs, and Highlands Ranch, Colo.

CenturyLink added 8,000 Prism TV subs in the first quarter of 2015, ending the quarter with more than 249,000 -- a penetration rate of 10.2%. The company also added 73,000 homes to its addressable TV footprint in the quarter, expanding that total to 2.4 million.

CenturyLink expects to expand Prism TV to about 425,000 additional homes through the rest of 2015, company president and CEO Glen Post said on the company’s May 5 first quarter earnings call.

CenturyLink is currently using Ericsson Mediaroom (the IPTV platform Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in September 2013) to power Prism TV. The telco, however, is developing a next-gen video strategy, and, as part of that process, is evaluating the Reference Design Kit (RDK), the preintegrated software stack for IP-capable set-tops and gateways that’s being managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global.

CenturyLink confirmed that it has licensed the Reference Design Kit (RDK), making it the first U.S. telco to affirm its interest in using a pre-integrated software stack for IP-capable and hybrid IP/QAM set-tops and gateways that’s being managed by Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Liberty Global.

“We are evaluating RDK and other platforms for CenturyLink’s next-generation video strategy,” a CenturyLink official said in an emailed statement, noting that the telco plans to share more on the project in “the coming months.”

CenturyLink currently runs its IP-based “Prism TV” service on Ericsson Mediaroom, the middleware platform Ericsson acquired from Microsoft in September 2013.

CenturyLink is using that platform, also in use by AT&T for its U-verse TV service, in several markets, including La Crosse, Wis.; Columbia and Jefferson City, Mo.; Tallahassee, Fla. (and areas covering central and southwest Florida; Las Vegas; Phoenix; Omaha, Neb.; Denver, Colorado Springs, and Highlands Ranch, Colo. CenturyLink ended 2014 with more than 240,000 Prism TV customers.

“We anticipate expanding Prism TV service to additional households and markets during the second half of 2015,” Glen Post, CenturyLink’s CEO, said in February during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call. Minneapolis is among the cities the telco is seeking TV franchises.

While CenturyLink has not made its final technology picks for its next-gen platform (Ericsson, the telco’s current partner, launched an upgraded, multiscreen-capable version of Mediaroom last fall), the RDK could enable CenturyLink to benefit from the scale the RDK ecosystem represents.

RDK Management announced last week that more than 220 companies have licensed the stack. That group includes a mix of CE manufacturers, chipmakers, software developers, system integrators and pay TV operators. Of the latter group, 25 are cable operators, telcos and satellite TV service providers. Known service provider licensees include Comcast, TWC, Liberty Global, Rogers Communications, Kabel Deutschland, and Japan’s J:COM.

CenturyLink also has some familiarity with the group that’s managing the RDK. Aamir Hussain, named CenturyLink’s executive vice president and chief technology officer last fall, most recently served as Liberty Global’s managing director and CTO for Europe.

For more detail on the status and direction of the RDK, please see a Q&A in this week’s edition of Multichannel News (pgs. A6-A8 of the INTX: Focus on Tech supplement) with Steve Heeb, the Comcast executive who was named president and general manager of RDK Management in September 2013.

Google Fiber announced Tuesday that it will bring its mix of 1-Gig broadband and pay-TV services to Salt Lake City, where it will compete with incumbent providers  Comcast and CenturyLink Communications.

Google Fiber, which is expected to replicate its demand-driven "Fiber Rally" deployment model there, has completed the “exploration phase” in Salt Lake City, and has now moved on to the design phase of the project. Google Fiber has not yet pinpointed when it expects to launch services in Salt Lake City.

“It will take some time before we begin signups and installations in Salt Lake City,” a Google spokesperson said via email. “We estimate it will take several months of planning our network before we start construction. We will keep the city updated along the way.”

The addition of Salt Lake City comes almost two months after Google Fiber announced that it would extend service to 18 new cities across four metro areas in the Southeast U.S. – Atlanta, Ga.; Charlotte, N.C.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Raleigh-Durham, N.C. Google Fiber has already launched service or begun network rollouts Kansas City, Kan.; Kansas City, Mo.; Provo, Utah (via its acquisition of iProvo); and Austin, Texas.

In Utah, a multi-city initiative called UTOPIA delivers services over a fiber network in partnership with several "residential service partners" such as Beehive Broadband, Fibernet, and Veracity Networks, but does not reach into Provo or Salt Lake City. UTOPIA's 15 member cities are: Brigham City, Cedar City, Cedar Hills, Centerville, Layton, Lindon, Midvale, Orem, Payson, Perry, Riverton, Tremonton, Vineyard, and West Valley City, though services have been launched only to a subset of that group. 

On Tuesday, Google Fiber said it is still working with city leaders to bring service to another four metro areas – Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio and San Jose, and hopes to offer a status report later this year.

Google Fiber has not announced how many customers are getting 1-Gig or its free 5Mbps down/1 Mbps upstream service, but MoffetNathanson, citing figures released by the U.S. Copyright Office, found that the provider ended 2014 with about 28,867 video subs.

Expanding on a “Early Access” program introduced in Kansas City last November, Google Fiber has launched a service tailored for small businesses in Provo, Utah, where the provider tangles with incumbent network operators Comcast and CenturyLink Communications.

Under that program, prospective small businesses in Google’s “fiberhoods” can sign up for 1-Gig broadband for $100 per month. Google Fiber, which is waiving its construction fee, is offering guaranteed pricing for one year. It’s also selling optional static IP addresses – one for $20 per month, or five for $30 per month.

Google Fiber also has network buildouts underway in Austin, Texas. In January, it announced plans to expand its mix of broadband and pay-TV offerings to 18 new cities across four metro areas in the Southeast U.S. – Atlanta, Ga.; Charlotte, N.C.; Nashville, Tenn.; and Raleigh-Durham, N.C.

Looking to shore up its business services offerings, CenturyLink has expanded symmetrical gigabit fiber service to four cities in Southern Utah.

The move encompasses the communities of St. George, Cedar City, Hurricane and Washington, Utah, where select businesses can now receive symmetrical fiber-to-the-premises connections. By scaling its fiber network, CenturyLink said, it can offer "competitive pricing" on IP-based fiber bundles combining data, Internet and voice service for business customers.

CenturyLink also is offering business-caliber service-level agreements, cloud-based applications and 24/7 customer care; additionally, customers can opt to have all their IT and communication services managed by CenturyLink.

"[T]he availability of competitively priced fiber services can be a game changer" in a location like Southern Utah, both serving existing businesses and attracting new ones, Jon Pike, the mayor of St. George, said. "Fiber connectivity helps give businesses the ability to use new cloud technologies, create job opportunities and attract capital investment."

Centuryink last year rolled out 1-Gbps service to business and residential customersin Salt Lake City and its surrounding communities.