T-Mobile Is Becoming a Cable Company (engadget.com)

T-Mobile has revealed that it's launching a TV service in 2018, and that is has acquired Layer3 TV (a company that integrates TV, streaming and social networking) to make this happen. The company thinks people are ditching cable due to the providers, not TV itself. Engadget reports: It claims that it can "uncarrier" TV the way it did with wireless service, and has already targeted a few areas it thinks it can fix: it doesn't like the years-long contracts, bloated bundles, outdated tech and poor customer service that are staples of TV service in the U.S. T-Mobile hasn't gone into detail about the functionality of the service yet. How will it be delivered? How much will it cost? Where will it be available? And will this affect the company's free Netflix offer? This is more a declaration of intent than a concrete roadmap, so it's far from certain that the company will live up to its promises. Ultimately, the move represents a big bet on T-Mobile's part: that people like TV and are cutting the cord based on a disdain for the companies, not the service. There's a degree of truth to that when many Americans are all too familiar with paying ever-increasing rates to get hundreds of channels they don't watch. However, there's no guarantee that it'll work in an era when many people (particularly younger people) are more likely to use Netflix, YouTube or a streaming TV service like Sling TV.

Comments

Re: Bad headline

[Obfuscant]

Sling isn't a "cable company". Hulu isn't a "cable company". T-Mobile is not becoming a cable company. Cable companies deliver video using a specific medium. Can you guess what that might be? No, maybe not, because I think you fail to understand what differentiates a cable company from a wireless company.

Here's a hint. T-Mobile is one of those ISPs who aren't limited by the municipal franchise requirements for access to the poles and conduits. That's because they don't use __________