The wireless company’s streaming video service, which launches late next month, will have more than 100 channels, Stephenson said at the WSJD Live conference in California.
AT&T said on Saturday (October 22) that it would buy Time Warner Inc for $85.4 billion, as it looks to diversify its business into the media and entertainment market.
The Time Warner deal gives AT&T control of cable TV channels HBO and CNN, film studio Warner Bros and other coveted media assets. Time Warner content will be incorporated into the upcoming video service, Stephenson said.
“And so we’re going to launch at the end of next month, November, a product that we think does this, and it’s what this deal is about. I think it’s important to understand it. Direct TV is now what we’re calling it but this is for the first time 100-plus premium channels, right. This isn’t the junk nobody wants, purely over the top, a mobile-centric platform for $35 a month,” Stephenson said.
“So $35 pretty much all in, we think this is big, we think it’s a game changer,” he added.
AT&T is betting big on mobile video to tap new revenue as the U.S. wireless market stagnates. AT&T acquired DirecTV for $48.5 billion in 2015, making it the largest U.S. pay-TV operator with 25.3 million video subscribers.
AT&T is entering a crowded market that services viewers who increasingly consume video online rather than through cable and satellite television services. Dish Network Corp’s Sling TV offers about two dozen channels for $20 a month, while Sony Corp’s PlayStation Vue has packages as big as 100-plus channels for $55 a month.
Online video service Hulu will roll out a new live TV bundle of broadcast and cable network channels early next year.
AT&T has said that DirecTV Now will have content from partners including Walt Disney Co, Viacom Inc and Scripps Networks Interactive.
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2016