AT&T unveils 31 TV networks offered in its WatchTV streaming service, which is launching next week for $15/month and is also included in two wireless plans
AT&T announced the launch of its new internet service Watch TV Thursday, revealing both the TV networks included in the service …
Context & Ripple Effects
WatchTV is the shipping version of what AT&T previewed as 'AT&T Watch' while its CEO was testifying at the antitrust trial over the Time Warner deal — a $15/month bundle deliberately built without sports. The company now has three rungs of internet TV: DirecTV Now's 100-plus channels at $35 from 2016, this new skinny tier, and the wireless-plan bundling that makes it free for subscribers on two plans.
First-order effects
- Cellular customers on the two qualifying plans get WatchTV at no extra charge starting next week, while everyone else can buy the 31-network bundle standalone for $15 — half of what DirecTV Now charged at launch.
Second-order effects
- Rival carriers now face a bundling template where streaming TV functions as a wireless retention perk rather than a profit center, pressuring them to attach their own video packages to postpaid plans.
Third-order effects
- The pricing ladder points toward carriers segmenting internet TV by churn value instead of margin — a structure AT&T itself confirmed two years later when AT&T TV launched nationally at $49.99/month above the skinny tier.
The trend: Wireless carriers are converting TV from a standalone subscription into a cheap attachment that locks in mobile customers, with each carrier stacking tiers from skinny bundles up to full-priced virtual pay-TV.