T-Mobile discontinues live TV services and offers YouTube TV



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T-Mobile US Inc. is abandoning its efforts to enter the home TV market on its own after the wireless company fails to turn its meager array of channels into a profitable service.

The mobile operator said Monday that it would end the service, known as TVision, on April 29 and instead direct its wireless customers to Google’s YouTube TV.

Competitive online video plans from Sony Corp. and others have gone out of business or raised prices for over-the-air TV services to keep pace with programmers who continue to raise their fees.

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T-Mobile launched a revamped version of its TV service last year to cater to its wireless customer base – the second largest in the country, after Verizon Communications Inc. It has also targeted existing cable subscribers and customers. millions of American households who have abandoned their television subscriptions. of their bills, opting instead to purchase broadband internet service as a stand-alone item and sign up for a host of video services such as Netflix and Disney +.

Teleprinter security Last Change Change%
TMUS T-MOBILE US, INC. 123.46 +0.47 + 0.38%
T AT&T, INC. 30.56 +0.22 + 0.73%
GOOGL ALPHABET, INC. 2,045.79 +21.06 + 1.04%
SNE SONY CORP. 106.60 +1.18 + 1.12%
NFLX NETFLIX, INC. 513.95 + 5.90 + 1.16%
Dis THE WALT DISNEY CO. 184.96 -0.96 -0.52%

The new product was designed to complement T-Mobile’s home broadband internet service, which is expected to open to the general public later this year.

So-called virtual pay-TV services provided entirely online have struggled to gain traction. AT&T Inc.’s offering – a service originally launched as DirecTV Now, which provides satellite-free internet channels – has declined since its peak to nearly two million subscribers in 2018. PlayStation Vue, a Sony television service, was shut down last year.

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TVision was the mobile operator’s second attempt to enter the pay-TV industry, following its 2018 purchase of Layer3 TV for $ 325 million. The company has spent the past two years collecting the rights to broadcast enough traditional over-the-air TV channels to compete with its biggest cable TV competitors.

T-Mobile noted most of Layer3’s value last year, citing a new strategy based in part on recently acquired content rights. Layer3 provided over-the-air TV channels to a small group of customers, but its high cost and cable delivery system held back its growth.

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T-Mobile executives said the service has attracted an enthusiastic audience. But several programmers complained shortly after its launch that the range of strings it offered was thinner than it should be. T-Mobile subsequently added more channels to the service, which increased costs for the carrier.

Live TV is one of the many sweeteners that T-Mobile has offered to its mobile phone customer base in recent years. Past promotions have bundled Netflix and the now-defunct Quibi service with customers’ wireless bills.

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