In the face of controversy, what else is there to do but push forward? That seems to be T-Mobile’s response to critics of the Binge On program. Today, the self-proclaimed Un-carrier added Amazon Video, Fox News, Univision Now, and the WWE Network to its ever-expanding list of “free” streaming services, bringing the total list to more than 40. According to T-Mobile’s data, the firm’s qualifying customers (those with a 3GB or higher data plan) are watching more than twice the amount of video than they did previously, because when you give a mouse a cookie … we all know what happens.
“Binge On is our most disruptive Un-carrier move yet. It has literally changed the way millions of people are watching video — they’re watching more, more than twice as much as before, and most importantly, they’re watching without worrying about bigger bills or surprise overages!” said the president and CEO of T-Mobile, John Legere. The rather tendentious CEO has gone to bat for the Binge On program before, engaging the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in one of his famous and highly-publicized Twitter rants. The Foundation was one of many groups to draw attention to the fact that the program agnostically “optimizes” video, essentially throttling video streams across the board.
Still, Legere has stood behind his program, saying, “Binge On is the Un-carrier solution to satisfy Americans’ growing appetite for mobile video — and the facts are telling us that customers love it!”
The facts Legere refers to include that T-Mobile customers have streamed 34 petabytes of free video content since Binge On’s launch just three months ago. How much is 34 petabytes? About 109 million episodes of Game of Thrones at DVD quality, the cell phone provider says.
Moreover, T-Mobile notes that one of the streaming services participating in the program has seen a 79-percent jump in daily viewers, and that 92 percent of customers surveyed expressed an interest in watching more video thanks to Binge On.
“Being the Un-carrier is all about listening to customers and giving them more choices and control,” Legere added. “We don’t make our customers jump through hoops to get our Un-carrier moves, and we won’t ever stop amping them up and making them even better. That’s who we are. That’s what we do.”
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