
T-Mobile Agrees to Buy Layer3 TV in Preparation for TV Service - anarchimedes
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-13/t-mobile-agrees-to-buy-layer3-in-preparation-for-new-tv-service?cmpid%3D=socialflow-twitter-tech
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votepaunchy
> While most of the industry is trying to lure cost-conscious consumers by
> offering cheaper packages with fewer channels, Denver-based Layer3 has gone
> in the opposite direction. It sells an online-TV subscription with hundreds
> of channels that starts at $75 a month. Layer3 is betting there’s a market
> for consumers who are willing to pay a premium for TV that is delivered in
> high definition and is easier to navigate.

I don’t see how T-Mo succeeds at that price point when streaming w/sports +
Netflix or Hulu is about half that cost.

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jbigelow76
_I don’t see how T-Mo succeeds at that price point when streaming w /sports +
Netflix or Hulu is about half that cost._

I pay a little over 50 bucks a month for Hulu's Live TV service but the
interface and UX is absolute garbage. If I could get everything I get from
Hulu Live with a real honest channel guide + easily managed cloud DVR I would
pay an extra $25 a month and drop Hulu in a flash.

I'll definitely be giving the T-Mobile service a look as the only thing
keeping me on Hulu is lack of _good_ alternatives (I'm looking at you
DirectTV).

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axaxs
Curious...why don't you like DirectTV? It's the first service I signed up
for...so I don't have much to compare. But the quality is excellent.

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jbigelow76
It may have improved since the initial roll out. I had wanted to ditch my
cable service for quite a while so I gave DirectTV a try when it launched,
when service wasn't yet up to par and the interface wasn't any better than
what Hulu has now. It maybe time to give it another look.

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peterlk
This seems like a big bet that the net-neutrality fight is over. Buying a TV
service makes it much easier to prioritize your own content...

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fjabre
It's become clear that the Internet as we know it was too vulnerable in its
current configuration. We need the Internet 2.0 that is designed to be neutral
from the ground up.

No one has solved the last mile problem because everyone was content to pay
the ISPs and now look what's happened.

We need alternatives and we need them fast.

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jdavis703
Internet 1.0 will be "good enough" for most people, so only geeks will be on
Internet 2.0. That's not a bad thing, but the internet of today is a way nicer
place to be than the internet of the 90s was. And the reason it's nicer is
because basically everyone I know is on it.

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amigoingtodie
I completely disagree for the exact same reason.

Progress of humanity, etc.

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iFred
This is interesting as it presents T-Mobile with three new areas to make money
in, existing license agreements, OTT video delivery, and the existing wireline
infrastructure that Layer3 says they have. They saw Comcast get into their
game, so they're going to get into theirs.

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0xcde4c3db
> a TV service that lets you watch "what you want, when you want, where you
> want"

I hope this means full on-demand and not the half-assed cable/satellite game
of a broadcasting model with a DVR tacked on. I didn't become a cord cutter
for the sake of a lower bill, but because I was spoiled by DVD box sets that I
can (re)watch anytime at my own pace. Traditional channels are just grating to
me now, and I have no idea why that model should be imposed on IP-based
services.

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paul7986
Why didn’t they buy Dish which includes Sling TV. And a lot more spectrum?

I’m an ATT subscriber and with our data plan Direct TV Now is offered for a
small added fee. GreAt svc and it allowed two family members to ditch their
Comcast tv svc.

No Brainer other wireless carriers will follow.

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maxsilver
> Why didn’t they buy Dish

They probably tried and couldn't work out an agreement. Dish is sort of
infamous for being hard to work with, and has inflated the cost of their
company by squatting on large amounts of spectrum they have zero intention of
ever using. And that's all before getting into personality conflicts between
both companies CEOs.

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dawnerd
I kinda wish they’d buy up frontier and get into the fiber market.

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kevin_thibedeau
That would require taking on Frontier's dysfunctional management.

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dawnerd
Replace the lot of em.

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smn1234
I read this as T-Mobile agrees to buy Level3... imagine the shock that had

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jpwgarrison
Same here, 2 seconds of "what does TV have to do with that" 10 seconds of
"that's going to take 20 years to integrate those two networks..." and 4
seconds of "wait, would there be anti-trust issues" then I read more
carefully.

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gizmo385
I think the title here should be updated to reflect that they're explicitly
purchasing Layer3 TV, not the networking company that most people are probably
assuming the headline is referring to.

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bogomipz
The networking company is called Level 3.

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gizmo385
Yeah, total misread on my part there. They're pretty close in name and it
threw me off.

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bogomipz
And more confusingly the name Level 3 looks like it won't be around much
longer. They were acquired by Centurylink last month:

[http://www.level3.com/en/](http://www.level3.com/en/)

