Google Fiber to kill its traditional Fiber TV offering in favor of online streaming

In February, Google Fiber started testing an upgraded TV experience for Fiber TV subscribers in an attempt to ditch its traditional TV offering. At the time, the online TV experience was only available in Huntsville, Alabama. However, In June, the company rolled out service in every city where Google Fiber was available. Now, Google has officially announced it will completely shut down its conventional TV offering altogether.

In an official blog post on Tuesday (via 9to5Google), Google Fiber said it “will ultimately retire Fiber TV in all our markets.” Google says current subscribers will get a 90-day notice before their plans change. As part of the migration, Google will replace the dedicated Fiber TV Box sitting in customers’ living rooms with a Chromecast with Google TV stick. In addition, Google will also upgrade old routers with Google WiFi for free.

“Traditional TV is expensive and outdated, so we’re working to upgrade our customers to streaming options, and will ultimately retire Fiber TV in all our markets,” said Liz Hsu, Director of Product Strategy, Google, in a blog post.

Google says it has already upgraded all legacy Fiber TV subscribers in Nashville, Huntsville, Salt Lake City, and Provo. Meanwhile, customers in Raleigh-Durham, Charlotte, and Irvine will be migrated to the new TV experience by the end of September. While Google doesn’t have a timeline for Kansas City just yet, it’s advising customers to make the switch at the earliest as it plans to shutter the service in all markets.

With the Chromecast with Google TV stick, Google Fiber customers will enjoy a richer TV experience complete with a wider selection of streaming services. In February, Google Fiber teamed up with Fubo TV, a streaming provider that primarily focuses on live sports. With this partnership, new customers can now sign for FuboTV (in addition to YouTube TV) when they subscribe to Google Fiber.

Featured image: A photo of a Google Fiber Network Box. Photo credits: Paul Sableman on Flickr licensed under CC 2.0.

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