By Jonathan Easton
US telco T-Mobile has announced the shutdown of its TVision Home IPTV cable service as it looks to grow its just-launched TVision streaming service.
The IPTV platform was based on tech acquired as a part of the 2017 Layer3 acquisition, and largely built the foundations of what has now become TVision. The legacy service will shutdown on December 3.
In an FAQ on its website, the operator said: “TVision Home was just the start of our mission to make TV better for everyone and remove customer pain points. We’ve been hard at work on a streaming solution since we started this journey in 2017. We believe that TVision LIVE will give customers the best possible choice in TV.”
Existing TVision Home subscribers will be granted free access to TVision tiers through to the end of June 2021. These include the US$60 per month sports- and news-oriented TVision Live Zone, along with the US$10 TVision Vibe package which includes channels such as AMC, Discovery and HGTV.
The discontinuation of TVision Home seemed something of an inevitability when TVision launched earlier this month as the future of the brand. TVision Home required a traditional set-top box and cost US$90 per month, while TVision is available across a range of apps, launched with a branded US$50 Android TV dongle and was significantly more affordable – even more affordable than comparable packages from Hulu, Sling and fuboTV.
The service is currently only available to T-Mobile and Sprint customers, with the operator saying that a wider launch will take place at some point next year. https://www.digitaltveurope.com