On June 12th, AT&T Inc.’s $85 billion bid to acquire Time Warner was approved by Judge Richard J. Leon. The merger will allow Time Warner’s coveted assets HBO, Warner Bros., Turner, and CNN, to fall into AT&T’s various paths of distribution. AT&T has built a vast infrastructure to provide consumers multiple ways to reach their content. AT&T already operates standard wireless phone, TV, and internet subscriptions, plus DirecTV following an acquisition in mid-2015.
Thursday, June 21st, AT&T announced a plan to launch a new streaming TV service titled “Watch TV.” The new service will be priced competitively at $15/month and will provide subscribers access to the assets received in the Time Warner deal as well as AMC Network, BBC, HGTV, The History Channel, and others. They will also add six Viacom channels following the launch. Watch TV is priced significantly lower than AT&T’s current $35/month streaming service DirecTV NOW. The new service will be compatible with all mobile devices and browsers and may even be offered to AT&T unlimited internet phone subscribers for free!
AT&T has put the consumer back in the driver seat. They can now offer arguably the best content on a variety of platforms. AT&T is also fully protected from “cord cutters” with two very different streaming services at varying price points. Whether you are a 28 year-old millennial watching Game of Thrones on your phone, or a baby-boomer watching CNN from your couch, AT&T can be your one stop shop content provider.