T-Mobile US Inc said on Wednesday that it would launch a new streaming television service next year after buying startup Layer3 TV for an undisclosed amount.
Reuters reports the moves come as competitors seek ways to provide content to win over customers in a saturated mobile market, and after the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier and No. 4 rival Sprint Corp ended merger talks last month.
T-Mobile Chief Financial Officer Braxton Carter said last week at an investor conference that the company would now focus on smaller, “tuck-in” acquisitions.
T-Mobile plans to launch a subscription service with advertising next year using Layer3’s technology platform and relationships with content providers. The company will create a “variety of offers,” some low cost, its executives said on a conference call with reporters.
While the industry has shifted to skinnier cable bundles, Denver-based Layer3 TV, founded in 2013, has focused more on traditional pay-TV packages, offering more than 275 high-definition channels and 25,000 on-demand titles in five U.S. cities. The company, started by industry veterans Jeff Binder and Dave Fellows, has marketed itself as a next-generation cable service, offering integration of online content with linear, improved customer service and its own proprietary network for higher quality video.
Sprint in November said it would offer unlimited data plan customers free subscriptions to the streaming service Hulu LLC, two months after T-Mobile introduced a similar offer with Netflix Inc.
AT&T Inc, which is in the process of buying Time Warner Inc for $85.4 billion, has already started bundling the premium channel HBO with wireless service.
T-Mobile’s service will enter a crowded market for online television streaming that includes competitors such as AT&T’s DirecTV Now and Dish Network Corp’s Sling TV.
No comments:
Post a Comment