T-Mobile’s TVision Live TV packages have suddenly gained more than 30 additional channels, although the change may only be in the short-term. Regardless, existing subscribers, and those who sign up soon, can take advantage of a richer channel lineup at no additional cost.
TVision Live is a new live TV streaming service and comes in three different flavors with the cost starting at $40 per month. Alongside TVision Live, T-Mobile also launched TVision Vibe. The difference is TVision Vibe is a much skinner package overall. Although, at $10 per month, the price is also significantly less.
With four new plans to choose from, the channels included with TVision Vibe are not included with the more expensive Live packages. For now, that has changed with T-Mobile announcing that all new and existing TVision Live subscribers gain access to “30+ top-rated entertainment channels” taken from the TVision Vibe plan.
There are no additional costs involved here, although it remains to be seen how long the additional channels will be available for. The channel lineup change was announced as a holiday deal, along with various other promotions the carrier is currently running.
T-Mobile’s TVision problem
While T-Mobile has positioned this as a holiday deal, and it technically is, the company is reportedly facing a more fundamental issue with its new live TV streaming service. According to a recent CNET report, T-Mobile is finding it difficult to get some of the networks to agree to its channel lineups.
The problem is understood to stem from the way bundles work in general. While there is nothing wrong with T-Mobile offering a cheap and skinny package, premium plans tend to include the same channels, but with more added on top. Alternatively, some networks often require their channels to be included in a service’s cheapest plan.
In contrast, T-Mobile is offering a different channel lineup with its premium Live plans and deciding for itself which individual networks are included in which packages. Presumably, to save money so that it can make the packages available at the quoted prices. However, that cost-cutting exercise goes against the deals typically made by networks, when agreeing to the inclusion of their channels.
In principle, TVision has solved the issue with this change, as all of the Vibe channels are now available in the more expensive plans.
Regardless of why it is happening, it does mean that anyone who has or will sign up to TVision Live will be getting a better deal than T-Mobile probably initially intended. Although one caveat to signing up now is that, if T-Mobile is unable to get the networks involved to agree to the current channel lineups, the TVision Live plans could be in line for a price increase sooner than expected.
Source: T-Mobile
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