The FCC’s 2015 Open Internet Order does not prohibit sponsored-data services, and even acknowledges they may provide consumer benefits. With increasing usage on its mobile network, he wrote, “AT&T will need to respond to those new usage demands by making capital-intensive investments, which will add to the billions AT&T has already spent to keep up with skyrocketing mobile video usage.”Īccording to Quinn, in the first four weeks after the launch of Data Free TV, nearly 3 million consumers who have both DirecTV and AT&T wireless took advantage of the feature, and the number of DirecTV Everywhere streams per month tripled versus one year earlier. “Data Free TV is certainly not free to AT&T,” Quinn wrote. 10 letter.īut AT&T’s Quinn said that assertion is “flatly incorrect.” That puts other video providers at a disadvantage, according to Wilkins: “While there is no cash cost on a consolidated basis for AT&T to zero-rate its own affiliate’s mobile video service (since DirecTV’s ‘cost’ of Sponsored Data is equal to AT&T Mobility’s sponsored data ‘revenue’), an unaffiliated provider’s Sponsored Data payment to AT&T Mobility is a true cash cost,” he wrote in the Nov. (U-verse subs who also have AT&T wireless get the same perk.) The telco also plans to provide that “zero-rating” benefit to customers who have both the DirecTV Now broadband-delivered bundle, priced at $35 per month for 100-plus channels, and AT&T wireless. Under the program, customers with both AT&T wireless and DirecTV can stream an unlimited amount of video through the satellite operator’s app without counting toward their monthly data-usage bucket. At issue: AT&T’s “Data Free TV,” which rolled out in September.

Does the directv app use data