AT&T is Coming
-By Mason Lankes | [email protected]
The old America Tel & Tel is planning to purchase Time Warner and integrate it with its DirecTV purchase. With Time Warner however, AT&T gains access to all of HBO and its popular shows.
"...You begin to think about things like Game of Thrones as an example, where in a mobile environment, a 60-minute episode may not be the best experience. Should you think about 20-minute episodes?" - Randall Stephenson, AT&T CEO
The AT&T bundle of companies is estimated to get a trillion impressions of content each year, which will give the company flexibility in raising ad prices to drive more revenue.
The company will be focused on generating more mobile-friendly content, but cutting down 60-minute episodes of Game of Thrones to 20 minutes does not seem like a value-added service in any way. In fact it may make the mobile experience more frustrating for users who binge watch. This has stirred some criticism from customers of HBO who are concerned that the Home Box Office may not be getting into the right hands. At least the CEO has stated that he will keep HBO unrestricted to AT&T customers, which means that everyone will still be able to enjoy Westeros' favorite show.