Late last year, AT&T launched DirecTV Now, a $35 streaming alternative to regular cable TV. In many ways, it’s a standard cable TV package, but you watch it on a phone or a Chromecast, rather than a cable TV box.
Even though $35 is less than most cheap cable packages, it’s still a whole bunch more money than avocado-eating millennials are used to spending on their Netflix subscription. Signups for the service clearly haven’t been as high as AT&T would like, as it’s been pushing promotions like free Apple TVs and a year of complimentary HBO ever since launch. Starting today there’s a new promotion for AT&T’s wireless customers, and it’s pretty hard to beat.
Anyone on AT&T’s $60-per-month Unlimited Choice cellphone plan can now get DirecTV Now for $10 a month, once bill credits have been applied. The DirecTV Now bundle you would get, called Live a Little, has 60 channels including most of the big cable news and some sports. Unlike customers on the more expensive $90-per-month Unlimited Plus bundle, you don’t get free HBO included.
It’s not a bad deal for cable TV, but it does tie you to AT&T’s Unlimited Choice plan, which objectively isn’t great. For $60 per month, you get “unlimited” data with a max speed of 3Mbps, with video capped at 480p. It’s technically not bad if you don’t mind slow web browsing and never tether, but it’s a bad deal even just compared to Verizon’s new Unlimited plan.
Still, if you’re a light data user who also is tired of paying for cable TV, AT&T’s plan could be worth a look.
