AT&T continues in its mission to actively transform the television space and blend it with wireless creating a new converged and expanded industry segment. Now they are now offering HBO to their unlimited data customers for free. This is big news for users who want HBO. So, what could be coming next after they acquire Time Warner?
It started 10 years ago with U-verse, which is the carrier’s internet protocol TV service. Then they acquired DirecTV a couple years ago and started offering some new and creative choices and lower costs. Then they recently introduced wireless TV or mobile TV, sending competitors back to the drawing board. Now AT&T is offering HBO to their unlimited data customers for free.
Wireless TV, mobile TV, lower priced TV packages, now HBO
That is quite an impressive list of changes that customers love. Some of this, like lower cost is what customers have been crying out for over the last few decades. Now they are getting what they want. Some of this, like wireless TV or mobile TV, are new innovations that transform the world of television, letting us watch on our smartphones or tablets anywhere in the country.
Now, AT&T is offering HBO for free to their unlimited data customers. This is not only transforming traditional pay TV, but is also working with the wireless industry and creating an entirely new segment.
Their success in this area is sending competitors like Comcast, Charter and Verizon Communications back to the drawing board for their own competitive answer. I saw the Comcast Xfinity Mobile announcement last week. Not as exciting as I had hoped, and we still have to wait and see what Charter and Verizon are going to do.
AT&T is transforming TV by creating wireless TV
AT&T seems to be the key in the transformation of the television space causing competitors to look like they are chickens running around with their heads cut off and bumping into each other. This is causing Comcast to rethink their television and wireless efforts. They had an announcement last week outlining their plans going forward. While I hope Comcast is successful, so far it looks like a half-hearted approach.
The same competitive threat is on Charter and other cable television companies as well. AT&T’s success in TV is even causing Verizon to think about joining this new competitive marketplace as well. The more the merrier.
Expect to see this wave of transformation and expansion continue. Later this year, AT&T’s acquisition of Time Warner is supposed to be complete. Time Warner is the parent of HBO. In fact, if you pull the camera back and take a longer-term view of the changing and expanding industry, you will recognize we are just in the very early stages of what is turning into a revolution of change in the television and wireless industries.
NAB 2017 needs to showcase this kind of innovation
The National Association of Broadcasters is holding their NAB 2017 annual convention in a few weeks. This is where you would expect to see this kind of industry reshaping innovation rolled out. Will they this year? The existing television industry has not been that transformative, but they need to be with new competitors like AT&T’s DirecTV Now and wireless TV sweeping in and changing everything.
So, expect to see continual reinvention of the television industry. Until recently, this space was owned by the cable television operators. This is similar to the local phone companies from decades ago. However, local phone companies saw the change that was coming and got closer to their customers. Cable television companies didn’t. It took them years longer to understand the threat later in the process and are only now trying to build relationships with customers.
The television industry is going through a fundamental transformation thanks to new competitors and new technology like the internet and wireless. IPTV and mobile TV are new ideas and they are expanding the competitive environment. These new competitors are causing a shake-up of the traditional television space.
Expect competition to come from many areas in the TV space. Big time competitors like AT&T and Comcast, smaller competitors that you may not have heard of, and many others in different segments like Netflix and Amazon.com. The world of television is changing and is blending with wireless. This is creating loads of new opportunities and we are only in the very early days. This is great news for investors, workers, executives and customers.
