In an effort to push its new DirecTV Now service, AT&T is preparing to offer customers a free Apple TV (or Fire TV stick) when they sign up, according to a new report form Variety. The report cites leaked customer support documents from AT&T, which were inadvertently published online today.
According to today’s report, AT&T plans to offer customers a free Apple TV when they agree to subscribe to three months of paid service. Customers who pay for one month will receive a free Fire TV stick.
Coming in at a base price of $35 per month, three months of service is cheaper for the user than buying an Apple TV as a standalone purchase, while one month is cheaper than purchasing a Fire TV stick.
For those unfamiliar, DirecTV Now is AT&T’s new internet TV streaming service that will launch later this year, starting at $35 per month. All in all, the service sounds largely similar to the service that Apple has reportedly been attempting to launch for over a year now, but without success. DirecTV Now includes channels such as AT&T, CBS, ESPN, HBO, NBC, and over 100 others. Though, channel availability will vary depending on what price tier the user subscribe to.
DirecTV Now will offer a 7-day free trial to test out the service, after which they will be downgraded to DirecTV Freeiew if they choose not to subscribe. Freeview is a free tier that’s ad supported and has limited channel availability. In order to qualify for the free Apple TV, customers must commit to three months of the paid service, though.
In pushing the Apple TV and Fire TV stick, AT&T is ensuring that customers will have access to the DirecTV Now service via a set-top box, in addition to computers and smartphones. It’s a smart move to grow the streaming platform, though AT&T isn’t necessarily the first company to do so.
It’s almost more interesting here that AT&T and DirecTV are launching a web TV streaming service at a reasonable price before Apple was able to successfully launch its own rumored service. Though, Apple would like you to think that this is the beauty of the tvOS App Store.
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