Looking to turn the tables on one of its wireless rivals, T-Mobile on Thursday announced it will give AT&T Wireless subs a free year of DirecTV Now if they switch to T-Mobile starting Friday (Dec. 16).
T-Mobile said the offer represents a value of $420, implying that it’s targeting DirecTV’s introductory price of $35 for a tier of 100-plus channels. To qualify for the offer, AT&T subs must activate two lines and bring their number to T-Mobile ONE.
The irony, of course, is that T-Mobile is using AT&T’s new OTT-TV service to do exact some damage on AT&T’s wireless subscriber base.
DirecTV Now, which has had a bumpy ride early on amid service outages and issues with sporting event blackouts, launched on November 30. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said at an investor conference earlier this month that DirecTV Now was exceeding expectations in the wake of the launch.
RELATED: DirecTV Now to Launch on November 30
AT&T is zero-rating DirecTV Now data that’s delivered on the carrier’s mobile network.
T-Mobile is doing the same for DirecTV Now that’s being delivered on its network, and, for its Simple Choice customers, has added DirecTV Now to Binge On, a bandwidth-saving service that delivers mobile video at 480p (roughly DVD) quality.
T-Mobile CEO John Legere unleashed a tweetstorm Thursday to tout the DirecTV Now promo and, per usual, take some brutal jabs at his competition:
3/ They act like #DirecTVNow is exclusive to @ATT…WRONG!! Both DTVNow & DTV apps stream free on @TMobile plus you get a faster network!!
— John Legere (@JohnLegere) December 15, 2016
