AT&T today introduced the first result of its acquisition of Time Warner: two new unlimited data plans that come with a live television bundle. Called “Unlimited &More” and “Unlimited &More Premium,” the plans offer customers unlimited talk, text, and data plus a free subscription to the carrier’s new “WatchTV” streaming service.
According to AT&T, &More will cost $70 per month as long as you both autopay and paperless billing turned on. You’ll have access to up to 22GB of high-speed data. After that, your speeds will begin to throttle if there’s heavy network congestion. Your video will also be throttled to 480p and you won’t be able to use a wireless hotspot. Meanwhile, &More Premium gets you 1080p video streaming and 15GB of hotspot data for $80 per month plus a free monthly subscription to HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz, Amazon Music Unlimited, or Pandora Premium.
Of course, the headlining feature of these new plans is WatchTV itself. AT&T says the service will give you access to 31 live television channels including A&E, ACM, BBC, Boomerang, CNN, Food Network, Discovery Channel, History, TBS, TNT, TLC, and more. Most of the lineup consists of assets previously owned by Time Warner. Other networks like BET, MTV2, Nicktoons, and VH-1 will make their way to the platform in the future.
AT&T also says over 15,000 different movies and TV shows will be available to stream on demand. You’ll also be able to watch content on “virtually every current smartphone, tablet or web browser, and certain streaming devices.”
While subscribers to the two previously mentioned unlimited plans get WatchTV for free, others will need to pay $15 per month if they want access. Admittedly, this is a pretty small price to pay for live television channels that normally would come in a package worth $30 a month or more. Still, for something so limiting, it’ll be interesting to see how many people actually use it.
AT&T says the new plans and WatchTV will land next week. The $15/month tier for WatchTV will be introduced at a later date.
