Casey Mendoza
T-Mobile Thinks It's Changing The Industry With This New Plan
Sprint announced its plan to remove data caps on the same day.
LEARN MOREPosted: 7:04 p.m. EDT Sep 6, 2017
T-Mobile is upgrading its unlimited family plan with a new promotion: free Netflix.
The company announced the move Wednesday. Its outspoken CEO John Legere explained that because people already use Netflix, partnering with the company would make more sense than developing a streaming competitor — which is what AT&T and Verizon did.
"I mean you can't make up sh*t like go90," Legere said.
Verizon reportedly spent more than $200 million on go90 — a streaming service developed specifically for millennials. But critics say it's basically dead.
T-Mobile is proudly promoting its new partnership with Netflix. But just last year, the company's "Binge On" service — which lets customers watch certain streaming services without data charges — was accused of violating net neutrality.
"There are people out there saying we're throttling. That's a game of semantics, and it's bullsh*t," Legere said in response to the criticism.
T-Mobile's CEO argued that any video company could join the Binge On service, but experts said the technical requirements to join posed a significant barrier to entry.
Some of the companies in the service include Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and even Newsy.
Back in February, the FCC let T-Mobile continue its Binge On program. The decision was made under new chairman Ajit Pai, who is known for his opposition to net neutrality regulations.
T-Mobile hopes "Netflix On Us" will give the company an advantage over competitors' "carrier bundles." For Netflix, the new partnership could put the streaming service into more pockets.
