Buckeye Broadband TV Select launch replaces linear nets with streaming focus

Buckeye's decision to walk away from Disney and NBCUniversal signals a growing trend where smaller operators prioritize broadband margins over money-losing video bundles. By leveraging TiVo and NCTC to build a low-cost streaming alternative, Buckeye is effectively becoming a hardware and connectivity gatekeeper rather than a traditional content aggregator. This shift forces programmers to rely more heavily on direct-to-consumer apps as regional cable footprints shrink. The success of the Rocket Internet flanker brand also demonstrates a viable path for retaining low-income subscribers post-ACP. Watch for whether other NCTC members adopt this 'streaming-first' template to mitigate churn from rising sports rights costs.

Buckeye Broadband's TV Select service represents a growing movement among smaller operators to replace expensive linear bundles with broadband-delivered streaming alternatives. The company's partnership with TiVo through NCTC provides the user interface and content aggregation layer for the $25/month offering. Buckeye dropped Newsmax over the network's demands for a 50% rate increase for 2025, demonstrating that the operator's willingness to walk away from programmers extends beyond the Disney and NBCUniversal disputes that triggered the TV Select build. The ACAC (formerly ACA Connects) elected new board members in May 2026, with Geoff Shook among those honored, reflecting Buckeye's growing influence within the independent operator community as it pioneers this streaming-first model.

The broader economics driving Buckeye's pivot reflect a structural problem in the cable video business. CableLabs sued Buckeye in 2018 over delinquent membership dues after the operator notified the R&D organization of its intention to terminate membership, an early signal that Block Communications was already questioning the value of industry-wide cost structures that smaller operators must fund alongside much larger MSOs. That friction over shared industry costs has now extended to programming, where Buckeye's leadership argues that programmers offering direct-to-consumer products at prices below what they charge operators for carriage makes the traditional bundle economically untenable.

Buckeye's Rocket Internet prepaid brand addresses subscriber retention in a post-ACP environment where low-income households lost connectivity subsidies. The operator's footprint extends beyond Ohio and Michigan into over 20 counties across Mississippi and Alabama through its MaxxSouth Broadband subsidiary, acquired in stages starting in 2014. Buckeye's parent Block Communications was founded in the early 1900s and remains under family control by descendant Allan Block, giving the company unusual latitude to make long-term strategic bets like abandoning linear carriage without answering to public-market quarterly pressures.