CenturyLink Still Open to Partnerships With OTT TV Providers

Despite having its own over-the-top 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,” CenturyLink CEO Glen Post said on the company’s second-quarter 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,” 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, and also resells and bundles DirecTV satellite TV service.

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