If you’re a T-Mobile subscriber who switched from AT&T for a free year of DirecTV Now, the carrier announced on Wednesday that you’re going to receive a free year of Hulu instead. T-Mobile launched a special DirecTV promotion in mid-December targeting AT&T customers looking to switch, but it’s now looking to “fix” their streaming experience by removing DirecTV Now from the equation.
T-Mobile calls DirecTV Now a “total disaster” and the carrier will offer customers a streaming service “that actually works” instead. AT&T’s DirecTV Now has received plenty of criticism since it launched because of various bugs and intermittent problems with streaming.
“It turns out DirecTV Now is barely watchable, but we’ve got our customers’ backs! So, every former AT&T customer who took us up on our offer now gets a free year of Hulu on us – and they get to enjoy it on a faster, more advanced network with unlimited data!” T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere said in a press release covering the promo. “Even I can’t believe AT&T spent $67 billion on DirecTV and still couldn’t roll out a streaming service that worked!”
Of course, there have been plenty of T-Mobile services in the recent past that have launched with bugs and various problems of their own. In fact, the T-Mobile Tuesdays program itself has repeatedly had problems that have prevented subscribers from collecting freebies.
All T-Mobile customers who just switched from AT&T and took advantage of the free DirecTV promo will get a notification with a unique code that should get them access to a free year of Hulu Limited Commercials service instead. The update should come in the next few weeks, so don’t freak out if the notification isn’t already there.
AT&T will certainly hate this, as it gives T-Mobile more ammunition to fire at its rivals. If you’re an AT&T subscriber on DirecTV Now, you should also know that AT&T won’t issue any refunds, but you can cancel at any time.
UPDATE: T-Mobile reached out to BGR to point out the fact that DirecTV Now access will continue to be available for free for a year. The free year of Hulu access is offered on top of that.
