Time Warner Deal Aftermath: AT&T Is About To Give Free TV To Its Wireless Customers (cnbc.com)

AT&T completed its $85 billion purchase of Time Warner yesterday and we're already starting to see some exclusive deals offered to its customers. CNBC reports that the company "will be launching a 'very, very skinny bundle' of television programming free to its mobile customers." From the report: "We will be launching, and you're going to hear more about this next week, a product called 'AT&T Watch TV,'" Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." "It will be the Turner content. It will not have sports. It'll be entertainment-centered." AT&T's unlimited wireless customers will get the service for free, Stephenson said, "or you can buy it for $15 a month on any platform." The service will be ad-supported, and AT&T will be ramping up an advertising platform, he said. He added that the company expects in coming weeks to make smaller acquisitions to enable those ad efforts. CNBC is also reporting that Time Warner is changing its name to WarnerMedia, and Turner Broadcasting CEO John Martin is departing the company.

Comments

Free!

[Anonymous Coward]

Just agree to our TOS, which allows us to track your viewing habits, as well as your location and activate the microphone at certain times to gather information about your surroundings to allow us to provide more relevant advertising to you.

Re:Free!

[atrex]

Also let us scoop up extra cash from the Ads we can get you to watch, as well as get you invested in our exclusive programming so that you keep coming back for more.

Re:Free!

[ole_timer]

you're free to get your phone elsewhere if you don't like at&t

Re:Free!

[Anonymous Coward]

Doing that doesn't make that kind of thing go away.

Re:Free!

[Anonymous Coward]

They will add a lot of overlay ads just like DTV.

Re:Free!

[ole_timer]

exactly

Re: Free!

[Anonymous Coward]

Yup, really sucks to get more for your money. For shame!

Like Netflix, only twice as much and half as good

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> AT&T Watch TV - $15 a month - ad-supported

Just like Netflix, only twice as much and half as good, plus you have to watch ads.

Seems like a winner to me!

Double dipping much?

[Anonymous Coward]

Wait... Did just read that this will cost $15 per month AND be ad supported?

Re:Double dipping much?

[ole_timer]

for the free to at&t customers, OR you can pay $15/mo. you should buy a T-Mobile phone...

Re:Double dipping much?

[Anonymous Coward]

They probably only want to test it out with unlimited subscribers for now, giving them time to adjust things and see how much bandwidth it uses.

Re:Like a businessman, except a treasonous fraud

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe Trump can convince the warden to give him his cell phone back, lol? But I doubt it. Traitors don't usually get favors from the warden. He'll be in Hell, at least until he gets to the ACTUAL Hell, lol. They've got a spot picked out...

for hiding ads?

[Anonymous Coward]

8K?

Crash...

[Anonymous Coward]

Looking forward to more 'self driving' car crashes while the human driver is busy watching reruns of Three's Company..

No Sports... so... why?

[DalM]

Sure, I get that not everyone enjoys sports, that's fine. I have no issue with that.

But my question is, if there are no sports, who cares? I thought sports were basically the only reason left for anyone to not cut the cord.

Re:No Sports... so... why?

[JackieBrown]

Cable news?

And some people (not me) enjoy channel surfing.

Re:No Sports... so... why?

[xxxJonBoyxxx]

>> channel surfing

Might as well start using Facebook again and scroll my "feed" then, since that appears to be half videos no one cares about these days.

>> cable news

If you've been on the road for any part of your career, just the sight of a USA Today newspaper, CNN on a TV or anything Wolfgang Puck can ruin your day. (Obligatory explanation: that's most of what you'll see in hotels or in airports.)

Re:No Sports... so... why?

[easyTree]

Isn't mainstream news just repackaged twitter posts?

Re:No Sports... so... why?

[easyTree]

Oh, and out and out lies.

Re:No Sports... so... why?

[Anonymous Coward]

pretty near 100% accurate. I have cable so that I can watch football. everything else on is complete and utter garbage

Re:No Sports... so... why?

[JackieBrown]

It feels like that nowadays doesn't it?

The number of times the press uses twitter to justify whatever outage it wants to peruse is amazing especially after all the evidence of fake bots used by many social groups to amplify their own outrage.

Er mer freakin' gerd!

[b0s0z0ku]

Er mer freakin' gerd! They're offering something that's available to anyone over the air, with a Mohu HDTV antenna, for "free." Frankly, I'd rather have the cell plan be $5 per month cheaper.

Re:Er mer freakin' gerd!

[larryjoeb]

Er mer freakin' gerd! They're offering something that's available to anyone over the air, with a Mohu HDTV antenna, for "free."

Well, the short quote from the article was "It will be the Turner content. It will not have sports. It'll be entertainment-centered." So, it will include non-over-the-air channels, and it will not include sports. Of course, that's sort of contradictory. If Turner content includes TNT and TBS, then it will either include NBA games or those programs will be blacked out. It it did include sports, then I would consider canceling Sling TV and switching to AT&T.

Re:Like Netflix, only twice as much and half as go

[Anonymous Coward]

At least their productions won't have to constantly move the camera from actor to actor every 5 seconds or have them all be autists that make no eye contact, lest they be sued for sexual harassment.

I can bet what the content will be

[FudRucker]

when i tried DirecTV (owned by AT&T) they did not tell me that more than half the channels are spammy home shopping channels, i canceled in less than a month, so i bet their free TV will be served with even more spammy TV viewing, TV is terrible, i refuse to watch it because of the spammy advertising, i refuse to allow any corporation to turn any of my gadgets in to a platform for advertising

Re:I can bet what the content will be

[Anonymous Coward]

Where is the Wayback machine when you need one.

Re: I can bet what the content will be

[Anonymous Coward]

So did you not look at the channel line up before signing up for the service? You donâ(TM)t have to watch any of those channels anyways... just saying.

Re:I can bet what the content will be

[antdude]

But did they have all the channels you wanted?

Really?

[DontBeAMoran]

...you can buy it for $15 a month on any platform.

Here's my $15. By the way, my platform is an old Nintendo DSi. Make it work or I'll see you in court for false advertising.

$15/mo with ads?

[OneHundredAndTen]

Are they crazy and/or stupid, or perhaps under the false impression that this still is the 20th century?

Re:$15/mo with ads?

[ole_timer]

did you not read the OR; it's free OR you can pay?

Re:$15/mo with ads?

[AlanBDee]

It's free for AT&T customers OR you can buy it for $15. It will have ads either way. It kind of reminds of the American cars of the early 80's; they were still crap but got better gas millage like the Japanese competition. Eventually, they will realize that the subscription and advertisement gravy train has left the station.

It sucks they can give away things free

[Anonymous Coward]

Net Neutrality would prevent this.

Re:It sucks they can give away things free

[sarren1901]

You have to be a customer to get it for free, so it's not really free. Sure, I get that the bill isn't going to go up and a subscriber would get additional benefits but they are still paying every month.

My cable company recently raised the download speeds, as if I can tell the difference between 50mb and 100mb 99.99% of the time. Most of the time, my download speed is not the limiting factor but rather the server I'm requesting from that has the slow down. They did this without changing my Internet bill. Ironically though, they did increase the cable bill and box rental fee along with a a tax increase. Almost think they want me to cut the cord and try out sling.

Point being, they gave me increased download speeds for the same price but it certainly is not free because I still pay my bill every month. I actually went to their site to see if the tier below was good enough to drop down to. Naturally they only raised the top two tiers of service but not the bottom two.

In closing, there is no such thing as a free lunch.

Re: It sucks they can give away things free

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck you, Trump Eunuch.

Re: It sucks they can give away things free

[Anonymous Coward]

Fuck you, Trump Eunuch.

You have it backwards.

Trump supporters are family men, it's the SJW leftists who have no balls ( unless they are masked and part of a mob ).

Re: It sucks they can give away things free

[triffid_98]

If his Trumpiness were a eunich He wouldn't have paid all that cash/hush money for sex workers and russian mail order brides

...It's the year 2018, can you all please just get over that Hillary lost already? I'm not saying she personally murdered people in Bengazi or any of that Fox News garbage but she had an opportunity to explain what her plan for the next 8 years was and...literally nothing. She was expecting a "freebie" since her opponent was a mysogonistic troll with tiny hands and I'm sorry sunshine, that isn't how it works. Lots of people were unhappy with the status quo and all you were offering was 8 more years of apathy. Obama promised to do many things (I know, I voted for him) and actually delivered on very few. He was a much better public speaker than Bush Jr but his one significant claim to fame was passing an extremely watered down healthcare bill...and I guess that Nobel prize for literally not being a member of the Bush family. Hillary failed to give any sort of plan other than trying to "one-up" Bernie (and vice versa) in the primary. It's now mid-2018 so please stop already.

Re:Trump Federal Prison - the aftermath

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that you Hellary?

Finally

[fahrbot-bot]

It will not have sports. It'll be entertainment-centered.

Someone acknowledges that sports are not entertaining.

Re:Finally

[easyTree]

Sport may be entertaining if you're a participant which you can do for free.

I see the options as:
  * Lose the cardio benefit; sit on your ass; pay; lose ability to have an impact on the outcome -OR-
  * Take part in sport or indeed standard exercise yourself

Not clear why there's apparent difficulty in making the 'right' choice.

Re: Finally

[triffid_98]

That's patently unfair...what if you're a closeted pedophile watching Olympic women's gymnastics or a closeted gay guy watching Olympic male wrestling? If you haven't yet discovered the power of the internets I can see how that would be right up your..alley.

And So it Begins

[Anonymous Coward]

And So it Begins, The First one is always Free

Re:Trump Federal Prison - the aftermath

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you know if yodels are still sold?

Free?

[easyTree]

You're going to have to do better than that!

$150/hour should do it.

And nothing of value was gained,

[Anonymous Coward]

Seriously, the garbage on TV is so bad and such an utter waste of time, giving customers "free TV" is like giving customers free toxic waste.

Spare me the comments which attempt to claim "there are good shows on TV these days". I know better.

Re: And nothing of value was gained,

[triffid_98]

Okay rose colored glasses guy. You do know the unpopular shows aren't on Hallmark (or whichever old people channel you watch) because they were terrible right?

While there has been some blatantly terrible television in the last 15 years the power of the internet is making it way better. Your choice is no longer "The Apprentice" or "Survivor" season 15, Amazon and Netflix will greenlight pretty much any crazy thing you want to pitch. While there are plenty of terrible ones there are also plenty of good ones that never would have made it onto ABC/CBS/NBC or even the oh so "risque" FOX/Comedy Central. They are (by contrast) but IP content isn't controlled by the FCC so they can pretty much do whatever.

People are quitting TV in record numbers

[Anonymous Coward]

They're scared. This is too funny - a huge merger attempting to push a failed business model. Do these people have more money than brains?

Remember the Radio Jingle Kids

[Anonymous Coward]

Remember the Radio Jingle Kids.

Sing along now.

If you're not paying for the service, you're the product.

Enjoy all your free TV kiddies.

Not exactly free

[Anonymous Coward]

If it's anything like the CW app. If you pause...5 minutes of commercials. If you rewind, 5 minutes. Fast forward 5 minutes. Every 10 minutes, 5 minutes. They gave me a free alternative and I still want to freaking pirate it.