AT&T’s new WatchTV — a streaming service with 31 channels and a $15 per month price — is live as of Friday, June 29. Not cheap enough for you? You can even get the service for free if you have certain AT&T wireless plans. If you’re looking for an affordable streaming service but don’t need too many channels, it looks like this might be just the thing for you.
Announced in June by chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson, the service currently offers 31 channels, which include many of the channels you find on most streaming services. The list includes A&E, AMC, CNN, TBS, Cartoon Network, TBS, TNT, and Turner Classic Movies. The vast majority of the channels are owned by Time Warner, which makes sense considering AT&T’s recent acquisition of Time Warner — and may explain the timing of the announcement.
Not all of the channels are Time Warner-owned, and six Viacom channels — BET, Comedy Central, MTV2, Nicktoons, TeenNick, and VH1 — are planned for the future, but using as many channels from Time Warner as possible is likely helping AT&T keep the costs down. This is why users of AT&T wireless plans with unlimited data get the service for free, while anyone else pays just $15 per month, which is even cheaper than rival streaming service Philo, which offers many of the same channels.
Also like Philo, you won’t find any sports or local channels here, which again is likely to help keep the service’s costs low. If you use AT&T’s new &More wireless plan, you will be able to choose either HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, or Starz to add to your service. You can also choose from non-TV options, like Amazon Music Unlimited, Pandora Premium, or VRV.
WatchTV offers on-demand content as well, with more than 15,000 movies. There are two streams available, so people can watch on up to two devices at once, but there are no DVR features. Considering how long AT&T is taking to bring DVR functionality to DirecTV Now, it doesn’t seem likely that they will be added anytime soon.
Currently, AT&T WatchTV is available on iOS and Android devices, as well as Apple TV, Chromecast, and Amazon Fire TV devices. There is no word on whether other devices like Roku will be supported in the future.
