Posted on 06/02/2020 10:54:26 AM PDT by FewsOrange
Welcome to a world without net neutrality
HBO Max, AT&T’s big bet on the future of streaming, will be excused from AT&T’s mobile data caps, while competing services like Netflix and Disney Plus will use up your data.
That’s the follow-up from a Vergecast conversation with Tony Goncalves, the AT&T executive in charge of HBO Max. Asked whether HBO Max would hit the cap, Goncalves said his team “had the conversation” but didn’t have the answer. AT&T later confirmed to The Verge that HBO Max will be excused from the company’s traditional data caps and the soft data caps on unlimited plans.
According to an AT&T executive familiar with the matter, HBO Max is using AT&T’s “sponsored data” system, which technically allows any company to pay to excuse its services from data caps. But since AT&T owns HBO Max, it’s just paying itself: the data fee shows up on the HBO Max books as an expense and on the AT&T Mobility books as revenue. For AT&T as a whole, it zeroes out. Compare that to a competitor like Netflix, which could theoretically pay AT&T for sponsored data, but it would be a pure cost. That’s why the last time we looked at AT&T’s sponsored data system, the only three streaming services we could find using it... were owned by AT&T. It’s also why sponsored data systems fly in the face of net neutrality principles. AT&T’s streaming services have a major advantage over its competitors, all of which run up against the cap. But there’s no net neutrality in the United States anymore, so AT&T is free to give itself preferential treatment.
“The network is the plumbing, and the content is the water. And you’re seeing water and the plumbing kind of coming together,” said Goncalves.
Listen to the entire show, or check out the full transcript here. https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/2/21276932/att-hbo-max-warnermedia-otter-media-ceo-tony-goncalves-interview
So?
So Netflix and Disney don’t want to pay the going rate for data transmission? Maybe they should build their own data networks then.
If you really want Netflix or Disney streaming through your AT&T service, get their Gigabit Internet service which has no data cap.
Yet another of the plenty of good reasons to ditch AT&T.
“AT&T’s streaming services have a major advantage over its competitors”
I dont give a crap about Max Netflix or any of it.
Just want to supplement my life style
Looks to me like a good reason to own a chunk of T at a decent dividend play
Exactly! I can watch Netflix, Disney, or Amazon all I want on my phone with no data charges, as long as I’m using the wifi connection to access it.
I think it’s the same on other networks like Sprint or Verizon. It’s the 4G/5G connection that sucks up the data charges.
How so? If you are an AT&T customer you get a benefit. Free data for HBO Max.
I have been paying for an unlimited data plan for many years - foolishly it seems - knowing that some day this kind of thing could happen. It’s grandfathered, but I suppose they could revoke that at some point if they wanted to. I’d have saved a lot of money over the years had I gone with a limited plan as I don’t stream very much. More lately, but overall wasted money.
I assume this article refers to their 3G/4G cellular networks and not their cable internet.
Anyway was planning to dump ATT and go with my cable company’s cell plan, which uses the Verizon network.
I don’t know what this means, probably because I don’t have Netflix or Disney or any other streaming service.
Many companies provide similar such discounts if one stays within their family of products. There are plenty of alternatives to AT&T if someone is unduly offended. :-)
Everybody’s got their allegiance. If it matters to you choose your provider accordingly.
CNN is ATT
net neutrality doesn’t have diddly squat to do with data caps.
They’re specifically talking about the mobile (cell phone) data networks.
Even most “unlimited” data plans will eventually throttle down streaming data.
Mark
I missed the mobile part of the article. Sorry about that.
“net neutrality doesn’t have diddly squat to do with data caps.”
But it does have something to do with selectively applied data caps.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.