Vidgo was an American streaming television service that offered over 100 channels of English- and Spanish-language sports, news and general entertainment content. In addition to its live television packages, Vidgo offered a cloud-based digital video recorder and thousands of hours of on-demand programming.
 | |
| Industry | Pay television |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2018 |
| Founder | Shane Cannon |
| Fate | Indefinite outage, due in part to unpaid bills |
| Headquarters | Salt Lake City, Utah |
Key people | Derek Mattsson (CEO), Bill Feininger (COO) |
| Services | Streaming television |
History
editVidgo launched in 2018[1] as a streaming service focused on professional sports, primarily soccer,[2] to cord cutters. Over time, the service expanded to include agreements with major television content providers, including A+E Networks, the Walt Disney Company, Fox Corporation, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures Television and the Discovery side of the Warner Bros. Discovery portfolio of channels. Their number of subscribers was estimated to be between 25,000 and 100,000 as of 2021.[3]
In 2022, the company hired a new executive leadership team[4][5] and revamped its mission to provide entertainment, news and sports of interest[6] to the heartland of the United States.[7] It also relaunched its streaming app with a new color palette, logo and other interface improvements.[8]
In April 2023, Vidgo quietly raised the prices of two English-language packages.[9] The price put Vidgo on the same footing as YouTube TV, Hulu with Live TV and Fubo TV.
Indefinite Outage
editIn November of 2023, they suffered an outage due to missed payments to vendors, which led them to pursue new forms of funding.[10] In January of 2024, Vidgo stopped billing their customers due to the length of the outage, but customers could continue to use their credentials to log into TV Anywhere apps to watch the content they had previously been paying for.[11] The following month, the access to TV Anywhere access was removed, and Vidgo announced they were in talks for a merger or strategic partnership, although there appear to be no updates since this announcement.[12]
Programming partners
editVidgo had a number of programming partners that offered live channels and on-demand content through the service, including:
- Altice USA (Cheddar News, i24 News)
- Curiosity Stream
- The First TV
- Fox Corporation
- The Inspirational Network
- NewsMax
- Nexstar Media Group (NewsNation)
- One America News
- Pac-12 Networks
- Paramount Global (only the former MTV Networks channels)
- Qurate Retail Group (HSN, QVC)
- Sinclair Broadcast Group
- Sony Pictures Television
- TelevisaUnivision
- The Walt Disney Company
- Warner Bros. Discovery (only the Discovery side)
Supported devices
editVidgo was available on most popular smart television devices, including:
- Amazon Fire TV
- Android TV / Google TV
- Android devices (Android phones, Android tablets)
- Apple TV
- Apple iOS devices (iPhone, iPad)
- Roku
Channels and on-demand content were available to stream through most popular web browsers, including Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, via the Vidgo website.
References
edit- ^ Munson, Benjamin (October 30, 2018). "Vidgo jumps into the vMVPD fray with soft launch of streaming TV service". Fierce Video. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
- ^ "Vidgo offers soccer fans another low-cost streaming alternative". World Soccer Talk. August 2022. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
- ^ "YouTube TV Has 5 Million Subscribers... Or do They?". 14 July 2022.
- ^ Keys, Matthew (2022-10-17). "Vidgo announces new executive leadership, expanded tech capabilities (Press release)". The Desk. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
- ^ Reading 10/17/2022, News Wire Feed Light. "Vidgo appoints new CEO and COO". Light Reading. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Staff, S. V. G. (2022-09-12). "Vidgo Relaunches With More College Football Than Any Other Streaming Service". Sports Video Group. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
- ^ Keys, Matthew (September 7, 2022). "Vidgo chases Middle America cord-cutters with college sports, news". Fierce Video. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
- ^ Keys, Matthew (2022-11-13). "Vidgo rolls out refreshed app with new design, logo and colors". The Desk. Retrieved 2022-11-14.
- ^ Bouma, Luke (2023-04-10). "Vidgo Raises The Price of Their Live TV Streaming Service". Cord Cutters News. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ^ Keys, Matthew (2023-11-21). "Vidgo outage triggered by missed payments to vendors, company works to secure new funding | StreamTV Insider". www.streamtvinsider.com. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ Bouma, Luke (2024-01-24). "Vidgo Stops Billing Customers But Lets Them Still Use Their Logins to Watch ESPN, FS1, and More For Free". Cord Cutters News. Retrieved 2025-01-14.
- ^ Cheng, Roger (2024-02-13). "Vidgo is Still Down and Just Suspended its TV Everywhere Logins, But is Closer to Finding a Lifeline". Cord Cutters News. Retrieved 2025-01-14.