CenturyLink builds challenge to Comcast with IPTV launch in St. Paul, 19 other Minnesota cities

CenturyLink (NYSE: CTL) is furthering its challenge against Minnesota's key cable operator Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), announcing that it is now offering its Prism TV service over its FTTH network in parts of St. Paul and 20 other surrounding cities.

The service will initially be available in parts of cities such as Arden Hills, Falcon Heights, Roseville and others.

The telco plans to make Prism TV available to a number of other cities in the state and thousands of additional homes in the "coming weeks."

This latest IPTV deployment drive builds on CenturyLink's mid-2014 move to build an area FTTH network for residential and business customers, creating a foundation to deliver 1 Gbps broadband and IPTV services.

After getting the Minneapolis City Council approval for a video franchise agreement last May, CenturyLink began offering Prism TV in parts of Minneapolis in June.

Per the terms of the agreement it made with the city, CenturyLink will bring the service to about 15 percent of the city during the next two years. Initially, CenturyLink will deliver the Prism TV service on a "limited" basis to parts of all 13 wards in the city. Ultimately, the telco's goal is to equip the entire city with the service by 2020.

Similar to the Minneapolis market, eligible customers will be able to get a wireless set-top box, whole-home DVR, a mobile app for watching programming at home or on the go, an extensive video on demand library and an app center for accessing social network sites. Prism TV also offers a large selection of sports channels, including the NFL Network, Big Ten Network, Fox Sports North and SEC Network as well as premium mobile content from HBO GO, MAX GO, Starz Play and Showtime Anytime.

CenturyLink continues to make progress in rolling out its Prism IPTV service.

While it won't announce its fourth quarter 2015 earnings until Feb. 10, CenturyLink reported during the third quarter that it added nearly 11,300 Prism TV customers and over 360,000 addressable homes added in new and existing service areas, ending the quarter with nearly 3 million addressable homes.

For more:
- see the release

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