The Church of "Uncarrier"... is led by unordained John Legere. The T-Mobile CEO had already preached about his "Uncarrier TV," fixing all the stuff you hate about cable. On Wednesday, we got details: It'll feature Viacom's TV channels, including Comedy Central, BET, MTV, and Nickelodeon.
It's exciting for 1 company... It's desperation for the other:
- T-Mobile (networks): Its business is low-cost phone plans. And it boldly (and kind of unrealistically) wants the same with TV. No bundling, no minimum 2-year contracts, "no BS." John's words, not ours.
- Viacom (content): The last kid standing on the streaming dance floor. Other content companies paired-up to compete with Netflix. Viacom finally did, but Uncarrier TV hasn't even launched.
"Bundling" beats "discounting"... We hope Uncarrier TV will be free for T-Mobile subscribers. If it does, T-Mobile can keep winning new customers with freebies. Bundling in free stuff earned it a record 2.4M new subscribers last year:
- Major League Baseball streaming comes free to each T-Mobile subscriber.
- And "T-Mobile Tuesdays" offer up free things weekly: 1 free taco. A Dunkin' latte. 10 cents off Shell gas.
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