Cincinnati Bell's (CBB) Fioptics To Feature Scripps' Newsy

U.S. telecom service provider, Cincinnati Bell Inc. (NYSE:CBB) , headquartered in Cincinnati, OH has moved one step ahead in expanding its Fioptics services. The company recently declared that it has signed a deal with The E.W. Scripps Company, an American broadcasting company based in Cincinnati. Per the deal, Scripps’ wholly owned subsidiary – Newsy, a digital video news channel – will now be accessible on its Fioptics cable television services in its Fioptics line-up HD Channel no. 508.

Cincinnati Bell’s Fioptics Service

Fioptics is the next big thing in the communications and entertainment industry and is much ahead of mere fiber technology. It offers Internet speeds up to 1 Gbps, enables an HD movie download in 1 minute and also facilitates fast uploading of photos and buffering-free streaming services. Fioptics has brought about a transformation in the cable television industry services, boosting its experiences.

Cincinnati Bell’s improving Fioptics services have aided the company in reaching out to 127,000 subscribers. It also seems to dominate the fiber-optics market of Cincinnati, with its 60% occupancy in Greater Cincinnati. Fioptics had 0.175 million Internet customers and 0.1268 million video subscribers, up 32.1% and 24.9% respectively, year over year, as of Jun 30, 2016.

Further, the company intends to continue investing in Fioptics networks to enhance customer experience, thus improving ARPU and checking churn. In this regard, introduction of MyTV, through its Fioptics high-speed Internet service, bodes well. Cincinnati Bell also claims that the company has been gearing up to provide the best content available to Fioptics subscribers.

Scripps’ Newsy

Newsy is a digital news channel acquired by Scripps almost three years back, in a $35-million deal. It delivers an in-depth analysis of the latest news headlines on a daily basis. Newsy also showcases award-winning coverage of world and national news along with policy, culture, science and technology. This digital new channel was previously available in the market through over-the-top (OTT) digital media platform which does not require cable, satellite and over-the-air TV services.

Newsy is normally accessible on devices such as Apple Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Apple TV, Dish Network Corp.’s (NASDAQ:DISH) Sling TV, Roku, Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Fire TV and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Chromecast. It is available on mobile apps like iOS, Android and Kindle Fire as well. Hence, the partnership with Cincinnati Bell is Scripps’ first cable agreement.

The Bottom Line

This alliance is expected to benefit both the companies. On the one hand, Cincinnati Bell deems Newsy to be a strategic fit for Fioptics customers who can now enjoy the latest news coverage of major daily news with easy access to Newsy Live. On the other hand, Newsy states that this deal is a crucial addition to its business as cable seems to be the most popular platform for offering television content and services globally and thus can help it to reach out to customers.

Cincinnati Bell currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Confidential from Zacks

Beyond this Analyst Blog, would you like to see Zacks' best recommendations that are not available to the public? Our Executive VP, Steve Reitmeister, knows when key trades are about to be triggered and which of our experts has the hottest hand. Click to see them now>>