John Legere, President and Chief Executive Officer
When we launched Music Freedom over a year ago, we showed American wireless consumers that a free and open Internet means increased innovation and competition in the industry, making way for new Internet services and content without restriction.
Music Freedom opened beautiful magenta streaming lanes to music providers big and small – for free. Our goal was to include every lawful music streaming provider from names you’d recognize like Pandora, Rhapsody, Spotify and Apple Music to the lesser known but just as cool (think BandCamp, Mad Genius Radio and Songza). We’ve more than quadrupled the number of services included in Music Freedom from the initial seven launched June 2014, covering over 95% of all music streamed by our customers, and we’re adding more services all the time. We’re streaming 196 million songs each and every day without hitting customers’ high-speed data buckets. Our customers love it!
Today, the Un-carrier is delivering yet another win for consumers! With Binge On, customers get to enjoy unlimited video streaming from Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Sling TV and more – 24 total services to start with many more to come!
Mobile video is now the #1 way Americans use their wireless data, growing 145% in the last two years to 1.6GB per month. And watch out – mobile video is set to grow over 400% to 8.4 GB per person by 2020. Cord cutting is up 60% since 2010. Customers are taking their video binging mobile.
Is it any surprise that so many of the huge conglomerates see dollar signs? They’re pulling out all the stops to control the experience and use growing mobile video consumption to line their pockets. They want to push their content on you, the consumer – so they make money first from the content, then from delivering it to your device, and once more from their sweet content partnership deals. And what do you get? Less choice, more B.S.! No mega-corporation should dictate which consumers should have access to what content.
At T-Mobile, we firmly believe in the principles of equal access to an open and free-flowing Internet. That’s why we created Binge On – to put more power in the hands of individuals to access the video content they want, no matter who created that content, without limits. We’re leveling the playing field for every legit streaming video provider who wants to participate. That’s the exact opposite approach of the Duopoly who want to corner and control the Internet with rules, restrictions and limits that are designed only for their own profits.
How are we doing this?
Open to Everyone, No One Pays
With Binge On, our doors are open to all streaming providers who want to participate. We’ve proven our track record with Music Freedom. No one pays us, and we don’t pay them - and everyone wins – especially customers. We’re not here to play favorites. Like Music Freedom, Binge On is open to any legit streaming service (with lawful content) out there – at absolutely no cost to them. They just need to contact us and work with us on the technical requirements, optimization for mobile viewing and confirm we can consistently identify their incoming music or video streams. Content providers can learn more by going to www.T-Mobile.com/BingeOn.
No Data Prioritization
There are no special “fast lanes” here. We don’t selectively prioritize content, like streaming video or music, in any way. It’s managed like all other data. The only difference is on our customers’ bills. And to those who try to sensationalize headlines by accusing T-Mobile of “throttling” video, it’s flat out not true. We’re giving customers the ability to control how they apply their high-speed data towards mobile video. Chug your paid high-speed data, or sip it slowly. It’s up to you.
100% transparent, 100% up to the customer to decide.
Speaking of giving customers control; this is my favorite part. Only the Un-carrier is building new technology into our network to let customers choose how their data is used for video. Every single Simple Choice customer has the option to opt out of Binge On. Would you rather use your high-speed data more efficiently, with data-free video streaming on many services (and up to 3x more video from your data on other services), and still get awesome mobile video at DVD-quality (typically 480p or better)? Great, we’ve got you covered. Not interested? That’s fine too. Just opt out at MyT-Mobile.com. Binge On is all about customer choice. Our customers control their video viewing experience.
We put our customers in control while the industry mega-corporations continue to concoct schemes to dictate their customers’ experience. Is it any wonder we’re completely changing the landscape of this industry? No wonder we’ve added nearly 28 million customers since announcing Un-carrier and starting this consumer revolution.
I’ll end by saying this: the Un-carrier stands for customer choice and industry innovation. This is what a free and open Internet is about. So go for it, watch more videos, binge-watch if you want, use your high speed data more efficiently and never get burned by bill shock again. The choice is completely yours.