AT&T: We'll Only Offer $15 TV Service if Merger is Approved AT&T says it will only launch the company's well-hyped $15 streaming video service if it gains regulatory approval for its $86 billion acquisition of Time Warner. The company unveiled the $15 "AT&T Watch" service back in April, stating that AT&T would be offering the service for free to users who sign up for AT&T wireless service. It was pretty clear that AT&T was hyping the proposal to downplay legitimate concerns that the merged company would harm competition by making it harder for competitors to license essential Time Warner content (like HBO).

And AT&T is now making it clear its $15 service will never materialize if it doesn't get regulatory approval for the Time Warner merger. "AT&T Watch would be a very low end, very thin collection of products, and I think this one will be based on getting the Time Warner deal done," AT&T CFO Jon Stephens told attendees of an industry conference this week. AT&T's goal is to take "some of the Turner video channels and bundle them with a small number of other channels and put a very small product for a customer base who is looking for that value and have a price point in the $15 range." Granted, some broadcasters like Discovery, A&E, Viacom and AMC have already offered their own, similar product named Philo. But AT&T would have a notable advantage by being able to upsell users to wireless by offering its Watch service for free. Approval of the deal remains in limbo. A ruling in the DOJ lawsuit to thwart the deal should arrive soon. Should AT&T win that case, it's pretty obvious that Ajit Pai's FCC will rubber stamp the deal. DOJ approval remains more complicated, though there's signs that it too will ultimately sign off on the deal with only a few modest conditions. Consumer advocates worry that not only will AT&T use the merger to make it harder for competitors to affordably license the content they need to compete with AT&T, but the telco will use the recent death of net neutrality to hamstring competitors in other, creative ways. Consumer advocates worry that not only will AT&T use the merger to make it harder for competitors to affordably license the content they need to compete with AT&T, but the telco will use the recent death of net neutrality to hamstring competitors in other, creative ways.







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Most recommended from 32 comments

neufuse

join:2006-12-06

James Creek, PA 36 recommendations neufuse Member $15 TV* * Service available for 6 months only at promo rate of $15 after that fee increases to $150 per month, to new customers only

Economist

The economy, stupid

Premium Member

join:2015-07-10

united state ·AT&T FTTP

20 recommendations Economist Premium Member No thanks sh!theads This is Sirius XM all over again. Yeah, a la carte...now instead of getting pretty much everything for $8 now it is $18 and you don't even get streaming included.



Go F yourself AT&T ***



*** Unless you bring me a giant sack of that lobbying money then I will become a whore for AT&T and lie out my ass about your awesomeness and free Interwebz for all, dogs and cats living together and peace in the mid east if the merger is approved

ham3843

join:2015-01-15

USA 17 recommendations ham3843 Member Are you joking Randall? That offer has to be a joke, right. It's meaningless.



I say the merger will be approved when you offer FTTH to 90+% of your footprint and

at least 50/50 Mbps that can actually be hooked up and subscribed to at ALL of those residences

you can't just pass them, ALL those places MUST be able to get genuine service.

All work must be completed...ALL work, by 2023. 90% of that must be completed by 2021.



And regarding price you must offer 50/50 Mpbs service at an everyday price of 40$/mo until the year 2037..



OK, Randall....get back to us when you're serious, until then the answer to getting the merger is NO.

YukonHawk

join:2001-01-07

Patterson, NY 5 recommendations YukonHawk Member Liar Liar..... Ethernet Cord on fire!!!!!! AppFarmer

join:2016-05-24

Salinas, CA 4 recommendations AppFarmer Member In other news... Water is wet, the Sun is hot, and the key to weight loss is eating less than your body burns. BluMatt

join:2018-01-06 4 recommendations BluMatt Member Make them build more FTTH locations! They (FCC) ought to attach a new Fiber deployment number requirement like they did with the DirecTV merger. They required AT&T build out something like 12 million new FTTH locations as a condition of allowing them to purchase DirecTV. The FCC could do something similar here. Maybe require another additional 10-15 million FTTH locations for this merger to be allowed.

WHT

join:2010-03-26

Rosston, TX 2 recommendations WHT Member Thin Collection of Products "AT&T Watch would be a very low end, very thin collection of products ... "

For the same $15 I could get a lot more products from Netflix.