You’ve seen the articles and the predictions saying that TV is dead or slowly dying. Well, they said the same thing about print but newspapers are still here, so let’s take those statements with a grain of salt. But what is true is that the way people consume tv shows has been changing, giving rise to VOD services like Netflix, and direct broadcast providers like DirecTV. Now, the US’ second largest carrier AT&T, which acquired the latter just last month, is offering the country’s first wireless and television service bundle.
The bundle offers four wireless accounts with 10GB that can be shared among them and then a television service that offers high-definition video as well as digital video recording capabilities that can be used by four televisions. This is the first time that a carrier and a TV provider have partnered together to offer this to consumers, a sign that providers are indeed looking to augment their services one way or another.
Ever since AT&T acquired DirecTV last month, they’ve already started selling the service to more than 2,000 retail stores across the country. Aside from the bundle, they are also offering packages for DirecTV and U-Verse between $50 and $125. And if they sign up for both the TV service and the AT&T wireless service, they get a $10 discount. So that’s where the cost of the $200 bundle comes in, as you would save money if you just get the bundle and not have separate subscriptions anymore.
Previously, cable companies actually started offering wireless services as well, but it was not such a hit with customers. AT&T is hoping that this time around, the “merger” between the two services will catch on. The bundle will be offered starting August 10.
SOURCE: AT&T
