Key Points
- Optimum is now offering customers 12 months of Netflix with Ads for free.
- Eligible customers include new and existing subscribers of certain Internet and pay TV tiers.
- Optimum previously offered an extended free trial of Disney Plus as part of its services.
Optimum is hoping to win customers back to its broadband Internet and pay TV services by offering free access to Netflix for one year, the company announced on Tuesday.
New and existing customers who subscribe to Optimum Internet service with a plan that offers simultaneous connection speeds of at least 500 Megabits per second (Mbps) can activate a free subscription to Netflix with Ads, which lasts for 12 months from the date of activation. Likewise, customers with Optimum Extra TV or Everything TV can activate the same Netflix perk, the company said.
The Netflix perk comes about six months after Optimum offered its TV and Internet subscribers an extended free trial of Disney Plus after partnering with tech developer Bango on a new streaming subscription management platform, which allows customers the opportunity to activate new video apps and have them billed directly to their Internet and TV accounts.
“At Optimum, our goal is to create an experience that reflects the way people actually watch TV today,” Mike Parker, the President of Consumer Services at Optimum, said in a statement.
Parker continued: “By partnering with Netflix, we continue to expand our digital subscription portfolio and bring customers new, simplified ways to access the content they know and love while simultaneously leading with choice, flexibility, and value at every turn.”
Optimum said Netflix will be integrated into its ongoing TV campaign called “Don’t Take Slow for an Answer,” which offers the perspective that some broadband competitors aren’t as reliable as Optimum Internet.
Like its peers, Optimum has faced increasing competition from fixed wireless products like home Internet services from T-Mobile and Verizon, along with upstart services like Starlink, which have chipped away at the subscriber count of land-based services.
In its most-recent earnings report, Optimum saw its broadband revenue dip 4 percent after losing nearly 1 percent of its Internet subscribers. Still, broadband remains the stronger part of its business, earning $837 million during the third quarter (Q3) of the year, compared with the $645 million that pay TV earned.
