Two weeks ago, Altice USA announced that it is offering eligible Optimum TV and internet customers free-for-six-months access to ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu.
And this week, a key technology vendor helping to enable that initiative surfaced — the cable operator is using the latest version of Bango’s Digital Vending Machine to manage signup and billing of the Disney streaming services.
Altice USA is only the latest U.S. telecommunications company to license Cambridge-based Bango’s subscription monetization technology, with Comcast, Verizon and T-Mobile, among others, also deploying the technology. Verizon, for example, uses Bango’s software to help power subscription services aggregation platform +play.
Notably, in March, Bango introduced an “all-in-one” suite that included a new user interface. Altice USA is among the first customers to deploy that new UX.
Digital Vending Machine provides a kind of liaison for subscription service providers and those who want to resell their services (mostly telcos, but also entities including large retailers and banks — anyone who bundles services to help move their own products). DVM manages the customer relationship, for example, transitioning promotional signups to paid status once their promo is over.
In addition to major SVOD providers like Disney, Bango also serves subscription operators including Duolingo and Uber.
Bango says its technology reaches around 4.5 billion consumers across 75 countries in Europe, North America, Latin America, and increasingly, Asia.
“We’re in a world in which the entire subscription ecosystem is growing,” Bango CEO Paul Larbey told StreamTV Insider. “And increasingly, subscription services are being distributed by telcos and cable operators. … For us, the ultimate goal is everyone manages their subscription within a single portal.”
Notably, Hub Entertainment Research on Monday released results of a recent survey finding that 70% of U.S. consumers would prefer managing and paying for all of their subscription services in one place.
As for Altice USA, it lost another 77,700 video customers and 37,000 broadband subscribers in Q1. In addition to Optimum Mobile, which added another 29,000 lines in the first quarter, Altice USA is seeking other bundled components that will spark a return to growth in its core businesses.