T-Mobile announced on Wednesday morning that its next disruptive Un-carrier move will be to launch its own pay TV service in 2018, fueled by the acquisition of self-described “next generation cable provider” Layer3 TV. The financial terms of the deal have yet to be disclosed, but this move will allow T-Mobile to jump into the ring with the likes of AT&T and Sony, both of which have invested in streaming TV services of their own.
“People love their TV, but they hate their TV providers,” said T-Mobile CEO John Legere in a press release revealing the new service and the acquisition. “And worse, they have no real choice but to simply take it – the crappy customer service, clunky technology and outrageous bills loaded with fees! That’s where we come in. We’re gonna fix the pain points and bring real choice to consumers across the country.”
Details regarding the TV service are virtually non-existent, as a majority of the press release simply claims that T-Mobile will once again disrupt an industry that needs to be disrupted. Currently available in just five cities across the US, Layer3 TV offers the reliability of cable and the freedom to watch hundreds of channels as well as stream video services like Netflix and Hulu. How similar T-Mobile final product will look to Layer3’s service remains to be seen.
In the video above, Legere says that the Layer3 acquisition deal should close in the next few weeks, at which point the two companies will begin working together on the new TV service. We still don’t know much about T-Mobile plans, but there’s no question that Layer3 TV is trying things that other providers aren’t.
