AT&T is introducing two unlimited wireless plans paired with a free content-streaming service, a display of the company’s new capabilities following its $85 billion merger with Time Warner.
The streaming service, dubbed WatchTV, will offer live television channels as well as 15,000 on-demand shows and movies garnered from the vast amount of programming available on Time Warner-owned channels like AMC, HGTV and CNN. It will be offered as a free add-on to those who sign up for the new unlimited plans or $15 a month by itself, the company said.
The new product follows a federal judge’s ruling last week against a Department of Justice lawsuit that contested the AT&T-Time Warner deal on anticompetitive grounds.
Facing a decline in wireless customers, AT&T is hoping that its broad channel lineup will help drive customers to the new unlimited plan. WatchTV will compete with services such as Sling TV, which allows customers to personalize their channel lineup for a monthly fee, as well as streaming companies like Netflix.
As the content and distribution industries further consolidate, experts predict that companies will seek to wall off their proprietary content from competitors. Instead, the new behemoths are expected to create bundled offerings, like WatchTV, that at least initially include few licensed programs but a large amount of owned content.
The move will, among other things, help the new entities better understand consumer behavior to improve content offerings. It was a key reason why AT&T pursued Time Warner, according to Chief Executive Officer Randall Stephenson.
“When you have those kinds of direct-to-consumer relationships, you have incredible insight into those customers,” he said on Thursday at a Wells Fargo conference. “You begin to have understanding of the customer that is really, really unique.”
Stephenson said the upheaval in the media industry will be a boon to digital advertisers, who are seeking to invest outside of Google and Facebook.
“They like the world of premium video — it’s an engaging form of advertising,” he said.
