T-Mobile unveiled several streaming television plans Tuesday in a move to enter the crowded cord-cutting market.
What Happened: T-Mobile US (NASDAQ:TMUS) unveiled several streaming plans under the name TVision that offer sports channels, live news, broadcast television and many family favorites.
The company said 65% of household in the U.S. still have cable or satellite TV. Live new and sports channels are the main reason that 80% of customers keep cable or satellite, T-Mobile said.
T-Mobile promises no clunky boxes or annual contracts. The company’s thousands of retail stores nationwide and online and phone support are available to help customers sign up.
“The Cableopoly holds TV fans hostage, bundling live news and sports into expensive packages with hundreds of other channels that people don’t want, and don’t watch.” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert.
The plan will be available to T-Mobile postpaid customers beginning Nov. 1 and former Sprint customers later in November.
The company is also launching TVision Hub, an HDMI streaming device with a remote, for $50.
Related Link: Google Unveils New Chromecast, Pixel Phones And Smart Speaker
Why It’s Important: T-Mobile called out YouTube TV, the streaming offering from Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), in its announcement, saying its plans are less than similar offerings from YouTube.
The TVision Live plan for $40 a month includes ABC, NBC, Fox, Telemundo, ESPN, ESPN2, CNBC, CNN, Fox News, ABCNews, MSNBC and other family favorites.
The TVision Live TV+ plan priced at $50 per month includes all of the above and ACC, Big Ten, ESPN College extra channels, NFL Network, SEC and Olympic Channel.
The TVision Live Zone is $60 a month and includes additional channels like NFL Red Zone, Boomerang and Universal Kids.
A package called TVision VIBE doesn’t include sports or live news and is priced at $10 a month. This package has channels like Hallmark, HGTV, TLC and AMC.
Notably absent from the packages is broadcast network CBS, a unit of ViacomCBS Inc (NASDAQ: VIAC).
This could be a positive or negative for the company as it works on rebranding its CBS All Access streaming platform.
T-Mobile could take on AT&T Inc (NYSE: T) with this offering, as it will be able to bundle a television and phone offering, similar to what AT&T does with its U-verse brand.
fuboTV Inc (NYSE: FUBO), which recently up-listed to the NYSE, could see pressure, as its packages have been marketed to sports fans with a wide range of sports channels offered.
TMUS Price Action: Shares of T-Mobile were trading down 1.77% at $110.82 at the time of publication Wednesday.
Courtesy photo.
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