T-Mobile Rebrands Layer3 Service as 'TVision Home', Inks Deal To Add Amazon Prime Video (variety.com)

T-Mobile today unveiled a new name for its Layer3 TV internet television service -- TVision Home -- with enhanced features, and announced a deal with Amazon to add Prime Video to the service later in 2019. From a report: TVision Home will be available starting April 14 in eight markets (the same areas Layer3 TV has already been available): Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Longmont, Colo. It's not a skinny bundle: TVision Home starts at $90 per month, which includes more than 150 channels, local broadcast stations and regional sports networks, as well as 15,000 VOD titles. Premium TV packages like HBO and Showtime are extra. In addition, TVision Home users must pay a $10 monthly set-top fee per connected TV. (Actually, the regular price of TVision Home for non-T-Mobile wireless customers is $99.99 per month, but the carrier is including a $9.99-per-month discount to all new subs for a limited time.)

Comments

Bundling

[Anonymous Coward]

Why is there this assumption that if I want Internet connectivity (mobile or otherwise) I would want entertainment? It's getting a bit disconcerting in that the Internet has just become another Cable TV network.

Re:Bundling

[flippy]

There isn't such an assumption. The original post is about an internet-based TV service, not about a bundle of internet service and TV service.

Re:Bundling

[Anonymous Coward]

Which to me (the original AC) is a problem in that companies are spending all their efforts on this sort of thing instead of improving the absolute abysmal state of Internet in the US. For example: I'm on Comcast (it's the only thing available in my area) and thanks to the 1990's infrastructure I get, at best, 1Mbps down and 384Kbps up. But I continually get offers for more channels of nonsense.

The same is true for T-Mobile. I don't have TMO since it doesn't work well but my friends who do constantly drop calls and have issues with data throughput. Maybe they should focus on that instead of being in the entertainment business.

Re:Bundling

[Anonymous Coward]

This is just in America and it's what Americans actually want. They are a weird bunch, best to just leave them alone, not get too close.

Re:Bundling

[flippy]

I hear you and I'm not saying you're wrong hoping that companies will do so (or wanting them to do so). But the reality is that they're corporations, and will most likely concentrate on whatever is going to make them the most profit. Until it's more profitable to fix the actual problems than it is to do other stuff, they won't fix 'em. It's unfortunate, but it's a fact of life.

Re:Bundling

[Anonymous Coward]

I (the original AC) may be an American but I don't feel like one. I don't get the thirst for "entertainment" in this form.

It's 90 or 100 bucks a month?

[93 Escort Wagon]

I get the distinct impression that all these new "TV" providers - be it T-Mobile, YouTube, or whomever - don't really understand why it is people have been fleeing their cable TV subscriptions in increasing numbers over the past 10-15 years.

Re:It's 90 or 100 bucks a month?

[flippy]

More likely, they do understand but just don't care. As long as the masses are willing to pay large amounts for bundled entertainment, perhaps because that's a good deal easier than any other option, the companies will continue to make lots of profit. And that's the only thing they care about.

Re: It's 90 or 100 bucks a month?

[Anonymous Coward]

T-Mobile is a laughingstock

Re:It's 90 or 100 bucks a month?

[andydread]

content providers are to blame primarily. They also don't and many times i've seen them get into wars about prices for their content and the cable/sat company then drops the channels Viacom i'm looking at you!

Re: It's 90 or 100 bucks a month?

[Anonymous Coward]

Same here

Re:It's 90 or 100 bucks a month?

[jetkust]

It's not as simple as that. This is about creating competition with the cable companies by first providing tv over their internet, and then eventually replacing them completely with 5g.

From their website:

TVision Home is part of T-Mobile’s 5G strategy and vision to give consumers real options to the cable companies, and that starts with the Sprint merger. Today, almost half of the country’s households (45%), and more than three quarters of rural households (76%) have no high-speed service (100 Mbps average) or only one option for high-speed broadband3. But if the merger is approved, by bringing together T-Mobile and Sprint, the New T-Mobile will have the scale and capacity to create a supercharged 5G network capable of reaching over half the country’s households with high-speed broadband by 2024.

And while TVision Home uses your existing wired broadband today, TVision Home is IPTV designed for a 5G future where wireless broadband can replace your home internet. That means millions can finally free themselves from the Cableopoly once and for all.

“TVision Home is about so much more than home TV it’s TV built for the 5G era,” said Mike Sievert, COO and President of T-Mobile. “With New T-Mobile, we’ll bring real choice, competition, better service, lower prices and faster speedsright into your living room. And – speaking of speed – while the Cableopoly innovates at the pace of the cable companies, we’ll innovate at the pace of the internet to give customers more value and more freedom more quickly.”

Will it count as part of your cap on ISP's with tv

[Joe_Dragon]

Will it count as part of your cap on ISP's with tv?
Altice, AT&T, Comcast, Cox, Charter Spectrum, Frontier, Nextlight, RCN/Wave and Verizon

Any ways $90/base + $/10 outlet is high.

Is this a joke?

[omnichad]

It's almost like a parody of cord-cutting. $10/mo. for a set top box? Are the cable/satellite companies even this bad?

Re:Is this a joke?

[flippy]

Yeah, they're that bad. They do the exact same thing with set-top boxes.

Re:Is this a joke?

[SeaFox]

$10/mo. for a set top box? Are the cable/satellite companies even this bad?

T-Mobile's pricing is a mimicking that of the cable companies. You would generally spend $3-5/mo for a no-frills basic basic DTA. $7-10/mo would get you a full-fledged converter with VOD access, a searchable on-screen guide, maybe the ability to turn itself off and on when your favorite program comes on, the ability to interface with an in-home DVR system (but it would not be able to record itself). And above that would be the $12-15/mo DVR. Maybe a couple dollars more for the higher capacity, networking one that can talk to the $7-10 converter.

Re:Is this a joke?

[roballred7050]

Comcast is $10 per SD set-top box, $20 per box for HD.

Say No

[Virtucon]

No to set top boxes & overpriced TV. I got rid of my TIVOs because of their crappy service and support, they were better than my FIOS STBs but still they were crap. This is a fail from the get-go. SlingTV, YoutubeTV, Hulu and Netflix are more robust, already established and don't need all these encumbrances.

Re: Say No

[Anonymous Coward]

What's yours is mine
From time to time
Not all the time
But enough to profit

Re:Say No

[Anonymous Coward]

What's wrong with TiVo? In my experience they are far from crappy, you can tell they care about the end user experience, and that's why I happily pay them the monthly fee.

They're also like the last company that still interfaces with traditional cable, and you already admitted TiVo is better than the cable company's box (duh). So what's the point of dragging TiVo's name through the mud when it sounds like you don't even care about having a box that interfaces with cable?

One of these is not like the others

[Anonymous Coward]

Longmont? Home of the symmetrical gig municipal fiber for $50/mo? What crack is T-Mobile smoking?

But who is willing?

[SuperKendall]

More likely, they do understand but just don't care. As long as the masses are willing to pay large amounts for bundled entertainment

That's what I don't get - are they really finding customers at this prices?

If they are finding customers, then they are not wrong about people wanting large bundles and they can carry on.

If they are no finding customers, they would care very quickly since they cannot run a business.

So who are the people subscribing to these large non-cable bundles? Are there any? This is where I seriously wish someone would do some investigative journalism to find and interview people are are using these large bundles. Maybe they just don't know any better???

Re:But who is willing?

[flippy]

They're either finding customers for these bundles (in which case I agree with you - they're free to carry on), or they won't find customers, the service will be unprofitable, and it'll fold, in which case the whole thing becomes a non-issue.

I'd be curious to see the results of that journalism, though!

Re:Will it count as part of your cap on ISP's with

[squiggleslash]

I'm struggling to understand the question. I think you're assuming this is an over-the-internet service. It's not, this is straight cable. It's as if T-Mobile had bought Comcast, not Sling.

Re:Will it count as part of your cap on ISP's with

[flippy]

That's not correct. It is an over-the-internet service. From the linked article: "Like other OTT services, TVision Home requires an existing wired broadband connection".

Re: Will it count as part of your cap on ISP's wit

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with that. You need a wire AND an existing broadband

T-Mobile is awesome

[SuperKendall]

T-Mobile is a laughingstock

Not if you travel internationally, T-Mobile has been fantastic in that regard.

I find the service in the U.S. to be mostly decent, if still not as good as Verizon in some cities. The LTE performance is usually really good.

Re:T-Mobile is awesome

[FictionPimp]

Key word is cities. T-Mobile works great in town. When I drive out of town my work phone (ATT) and my wife's phone (verizon) both work just fine. My phone however has no signal. Basically it's a city dewller's service, and it turns out that 1% of the network they say they are missing compared to verizon is drastically important at least in my area.

Re:Will it count as part of your cap on ISP's with

[squiggleslash]

Scrub this, I'm wrong. I know the original intent was that the service was delivered by a dedicated wire, but it appears that they've switched to running over a pre-existing, independently bought, Internet connection, which is a shame.