T-Mobile releases 'T-Mobile TV' app for iOS with 30-day free preview

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
T-Mobile on Thursday gave iPhone users on its network a new means of accessing on-demand and live video content with the debut of the T-Mobile TV app in Apple's App Store.

on your phone


The new app allows T-Mobile customers to view content from channels such as ESPN Mobile TV, NBC Sports, Nickelodeon, Discovery, ABC News, Bloomberg, Fox, NBC, MTV, Spike TV, and Comedy Central, as well as others.

In a bid to garner new subcribers, the carrier is extending a 30-day free trial for the service, after which time users can opt in to 30, 90, or 180-day subscription packages for selected channel packs.

Packages include the $12.99 Prime Pack, which includes live and on-demand sports, news and other content; the $9.99 TV Mobile en Espanol; kid-centric Playground TV for $5.99; Life & Style, which features E!, TLC, The Style Network and Lifetime, for $7.99; The Urban Zone, with R&B, hip-hop and BET content for $5.99; and new movie releases in the $6.99 Crackle Movies pack. All prices represent monthly fees, though discounts are available for 90 or 180-day subscriptions.

T-Mobile TV has been available on Android since 2010, but iPhone users on the network were unable to access content until today. With the T-Mobile iPhone officially going on sale less than a month ago, the telecom was quick to roll out the video app for iOS.

The T-Mobile TV app is available as a free download in the App Store. The 7.8MB app is compatible with the iPhone 4 and above, iPod touches, and iPads running iOS 4.3 or higher.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,807member
    We get all of those channels for free on the Sprint TV app for iPhone. I don't use it but it is there.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    nz1nz1 Posts: 1member
    Did you guys even download the app and try it, or run the press release? There's no 30-day trial.
  • Reply 3 of 7
    robertsmrobertsm Posts: 48member
    @nz1. I noticed that too
  • Reply 4 of 7
    31 flavas31 flavas Posts: 51member


    Is this a subscription Netflix style (no advertisements) or Hulu style (lots of ads)?

  • Reply 5 of 7
    tbelltbell Posts: 3,146member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by gwmac View Post



    We get all of those channels for free on the Sprint TV app for iPhone. I don't use it but it is there.


    To be fair, Sprint costs a lot more for service. 

  • Reply 6 of 7
    gwmacgwmac Posts: 1,807member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TBell View Post


    To be fair, Sprint costs a lot more for service. 



     


    The basic Sprint TV package is included in the plans for free which gives you about 15 channels, but additional channels and features do cost extra.


     


    Here is the list of free ones vs. paid and the prices for premium channels. It doesn't appear to be more expensive.


    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sprinttv/id494686127?mt=8




    •  

  • Reply 7 of 7
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member


    I read somewhere that Dish Network recently made an offer to acquire Sprint.  And I don't think it will be the last time that legacy TV concerns (e.g. satellite and cable networks) will attempt to buy their way into wired and wireless telecom + internet.  Launching satellites is just about the most expensive way to deliver a TV signal to subscribers.  And old-school cable TV is becoming redundant.  There's an app for that.



    From the other side, the cell carriers just might want to try to acquire content distribution networks.  They're facing a dumb-pipe future.  They want to avoid becoming boring generic interchangeable wireless ISPs competing on cost alone.  "Real 4G," when it's finally rolled out, won't help them one bit.  It will finally combine voice and data into a single stream of IP packets, erasing the technical difference between voice and data connections.  LTE (full name "3GPP Long Term Evolution") still requires separate voice and data connections, so the carriers can still more or less justify separate voice and data plans.  Real 4G will eliminate that rationale.  Charging subscribers for separate voice and data plans will be as unacceptable as your ISP charging you separately for email and non-email data.  There goes that cash cow (along with SMS message fees, which iMessage is killing off.)


     


    So what can the cell carriers do to expand their business and avoid dumb pipe-hood?  A natural step would be to move into content distribution.  Because, as they say in Hollywood, "Content is king.  But distribution is King Kong."  Lots of money to be made in the movie rental / subscription business.  And the old players (the aforementioned satellite and cable networks) are starting to feel the heat from internet-based distribution.


     


    All of which sounds like the mobile / wired / communication / data / entertainment / movie / TV industry is ripe for some Apple-style innovative disruption.

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