AT&T to Give Free HBO to More Wireless Customers
September 12 2017 - 10:54AM
Dow Jones News
By Drew FitzGerald
AT&T Inc. said it would offer free HBO service to more of
its wireless subscribers, as video streaming giveaways become the
latest front in the fight for cellular customers.
On Tuesday, the cellphone giant said customers on its midmarket
Unlimited Choice wireless plans will get HBO free starting Friday.
The company has offered free HBO to subscribers on its more
expensive Unlimited Plus plans since earlier this year.
"This is how we move down market," Chief Executive Randall
Stephenson said at an industry conference, noting that any plan
that keeps communications customers from leaving makes the overall
business more profitable.
Rival T-Mobile US Inc. recently said it would provide free
Netflix Inc. accounts to subscribers on its unlimited family data
plans.
AT&T is promoting HBO content even as it awaits regulatory
approval for its proposed takeover of Time Warner Inc., which owns
HBO as well as CNN, sports-heavy Turner channels and movies from
the Warner Bros. studio.
Mr. Stephenson said AT&T will run Time Warner's media
business as a "self contained" unit insulated from the needs of its
new corporate parent.
"I know very little about running a media company," Mr.
Stephenson said at the Goldman Sachs conference in New York.
"Running a media and entertainment company is very different from
running a communications company."
Still, the AT&T CEO said he expects the deal to yield a
meaningful amount of new revenue from advertising. The merged
businesses should also be able to cut costs by combining
information-technology operations and using data on viewing habits
to choose what shows and movies to invest in next, he added.
AT&T's takeover of Time Warner, worth $85 billion when it
was launched last year, still needs approval from the U.S.
Department of Justice and regulators in Brazil. Mr. Stephenson said
the company has so far run into no surprises and still expects the
deal to close by the end of this year.
Mr. Stephenson also said he expects the company to be "well down
the path" of building a new advertising platform in the coming
months. AT&T has said it can earn several times above going
rates by selling video ads tailored to specific groups of customers
based on demographic information and what they watch.
"We have placed a high value on this data," Mr. Stephenson
said.
Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 12, 2017 10:39 ET (14:39 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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