AT&T is preparing to go big with its new DirecTV Now streaming service, according to an exclusive report from Variety. As part of its new service, AT&T will be giving away Apple TV and Amazon's Fire TV stick devices to those who sign-up for the new streaming service.
Variety obtained this information from documents AT&T accidentally made public. According to the documents, AT&T will be giving away Apple TVs to those that are willing to commit to at least three months of paid DirecTV Now service. Those who commit to paying for just one will be get the Fire TV stick.
At first, it may sound like DirecTV Now will cost more than the retail value of either device. But, that's not actually the case, as the streaming service only costs $35 a month, at least for the base package. So, you could potentially get a tad bit of a discount on either the Apple TV or Fire TV stick.
As for the channels DirecTV Now will offer, the documents didn't provide a full list; however, the documents Variety obtained seem to show that the service will at least launch with “Galavision, Univision and UniMas, Fox and MundoFox, CBS, HDNet Movies, the Hallmark Channel and the Sony Movie Channel.”
One thing's for certain: DirecTV Now will poise itself to be a giant within the streaming market. But, will it be to pull a significant amount of customers away from, say, Netflix, especially with Netflix's big original content push? We don't know yet, but that's not necessarily what AT&T is aiming to compete with, since this would essentially be live television brought to consumers in a streaming format.
source: Variety
