AT&T has introduced its first TV and wireless phone combo package since completing its $48.5 billion acquisition of satellite TV-provider DirecTV late last month.
The giant telecom unveiled the new offering on Monday, announcing that customers will soon be able choose a plan that includes high-definion TV with DVR as well as wireless phone service with unlimited talk and text as well as 10 gigabytes of data across four phone lines. The plan will be available starting August 10 starting at a base price of $200 per month.
That price includes a basic, $50-a-month TV plan for up to four receivers as well as $160 per month for the four-phone wireless plan, plus a $10 monthly discount for customers who choose the new plan. The “All in One” bundle can be modified to include more expensive TV packages that come with more channels. An “All Included” bundle allows customers to add different high-speed Internet plans to their plans.
The new packages represent AT&T’s (T) first attempt at convincing DirecTV (DTV) customers to join AT&T’s wireless plans while the company also looks to turn its existing phone customers into DirecTV subscribers.
The bundled options are AT&T’s first new offerings since the company received regulatory approval to merge with DirecTV, a deal that involved a 14 month-long regulatory review process and makes the combined company the largest pay-TV provider in the U.S. Late last month, the Federal Communications Commission finally gave the merger the green light, though not without a list of conditions, namely a four-year agreement that includes pledges to expand AT&T’s high speed fiber Internet to 12.5 million customers while offering discounted broadband service to low-income customers.
The conditions came as little surprise to a telecom industry that has seen regulators move to block past mega-deals, such as Comcast’s (CMCSA) thwarted $45 billion deal for Time Warner Cable (TWC) as well as AT&T’s own failed acquisition of T-Mobile (TMUS).