T-Mobile US announced a change in its TV strategy to offer the YouTube TV and Philo streaming services to customers. There will replace its TVision service launched last year, after the provider for that ran into financial problems. The deal with YouTube is part of a wider partnership with Google that will see T-Mobile also promote Google devices and services.
T-Mobile relaunched its TV service last October with a new range of plans. Since then, the company said it's "learned a lot about the TV industry, about streaming products, and of course, about TV customers". With its TV software provider "encountering some financial challenges", it decided to take a different step and offer the third-party services instead. These give customers a wider range of channels and content for a similar price.
Customers can continue to use the TVision Hub, an Android-based set-top box, or their own media player. Existing customers will get USD 10 per month off YouTube TV and/or Philo as long as they’re a T-Mobile subscriber. This means TV service starts at USD 10 per month for Philo and USD 65 for YouTube TV.
As an introductory offer until 30 June, TVision Live subscribers can get a month of YouTube TV free (regularly USD 64.99) and three free months of YouTube Premium free (normally USD 11.99). TVision Vibe customers get a free month of Philo to start (regularly USD 20).
T-Mobile's existing Live and Vibe TV services are planned to end from 29 April.
Under the wider collaboration with Google, T-Mobile will promote hardware such as Android TV OS devices and the full range of Pixel phones. In addition to offering YouTube TV, it will make the Messages app the default for messaging on all its Android devices, including support for Rich Communication Services, and promote Google One as a phone back-up and storage option.
