The focus on internet-only service makes sense when Google recently dropped its 100Mbps tier. Why pay for old-school TV when you have a gigabit connection that can stream video without so much as a hiccup? YouTube TV appears to be thriving with 2 million customers, and Google Fiber customers are a prime candidate for the service.

At the same time, this is an acknowledgment that Google Fiber's TV offering hasn't fared all that well. Estimates suggested that Fiber had just 84,232 TV subscribers at the end of 2016, and that number isn't likely to have climbed higher when Google declined to offer TV in newer markets like Louisville and San Antonio. By contrast, there were over 500,000 broadband customers -- many users had no interest in traditional TV, at least not from Google. The switch to internet-only service for new sign-ups lets Google cut costs and focus on raw data service.