Cellcom, Israel’s biggest mobile phone operator, said on Monday it will offer Apple TV as it launched its new Cellcom TV app.
Cellcom said it will be the first in Israel to offer its multi-channel television, including broadcast channels and video on-demand content, on Apple TV’s streaming service at no extra charge.
Cellcom is a newcomer to the Israeli television market. Seeking new streams of revenue, it launched a low price, Internet-based service last year that competes with cable company HOT and satellite TV firm YES, a subsidiary of Bezeq.
Cellcom has now surpassed 100,000 subscribers, still well below YES and HOT. But Cellcom added 12,000 subscribers in the last quarter while the other two services lost clients.
“We had a mission to change the TV market,” Cellcom Chief Executive Nir Sztern told a news conference. “This move enables clients to disconnect from the set-top box. We need to bring broadcast over IP (Internet protocol).”
In the United States, Time Warner offers some customers the option to swap their cable box for a Roku streaming player.