AT&T® Plans to Launch New Streaming Services by 2018

Addressing the audience present at a recent conference held in New York, the Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer of AT&T^®, John Stephens, indicated that the Telco giant plans to launch new streaming services in the upcoming months. One of them is a streaming-based device titled AT&T^® Watch that will offer a skinny bundle, which will be in $15 a month price range.

Speaking through a webcast, AT&T’s CFO further said that DIRECTV NOW^® is positioned for success in the longer term since it has reached over 1.5 million customers. Moreover, Stephens also told investors at the Cowen and Company’s Technology, Media, and Telecom Conference, that U-verse^® and DIRECTV^® “still have a place in the marketplace”.

In general, an affordable skinny bundle suggests less number of channels compared to what is offered by a Telco in their cheapest TV internet phone bundles. AT&T^® provides an option for subscribers to bundle DIRECTV NOW^® with an Unlimited Enhanced plan, but for triple play, AT&T^® customers would have to combine a DIRECTV^® package with digital phone and internet plans.

AT&T^® is planning to launch two streaming services by 2018 to add to its cheapest TV internet phone bundles and double play packages. The first service will be an in-home device for streaming that will provide “the full scope of services” akin to their DIRECTV NOW^®, but at an affordable cost. The AT&T^® CFO also hinted that it would provide integrated access to some of the other streaming services, and that it would be connectable to any broadband internet service.

The second streaming service, which AT&T^® expects to launch this year, is a skinny television bundle. However, Stephens said that its launch would depend on AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner^®. He further added that AT&T^® Watch is a “very low-end, very thin collection of content”, whereas the skinny bundle would take select cable networks of Turner^® from Time Warner^® and “bundle that with a small number of other channels”.

A while back, the US Justice Department litigated the AT&T^®-Time Warner^® deal arguing that it would affect competition. It was first reported that the merger is awaiting regulatory approval, but recent reports indicate that a judge will give a ruling on that by June 12. “We continue to believe that this vertical merger will be very good for consumers,” Stephens said to the investors. “[We] look forward to the judge’s ruling and moving forward and getting the transaction completed and commencing with the integration.”