• by Alex Weprin , June 21, 2018

With the Time Warner acquisition complete, AT&T officially announced its “AT&T WatchTV” streaming service on Thursday. The service, which has been teased for some time, will launch next week.

Notably, the service will include the ability to stream more than 30 live TV channels, including the Turner networks like CNN, TBS and TNT, as well as Discovery Inc. channels such as Discovery and Food Network, AMC Networks and A+E Networks. Channels from Viacom be “coming soon.” The service will include access to around 15,000 on-demand titles, and will be ad-supported.

AT&T WatchTV will be included in two unlimited data plans that will launch next week: AT&T Unlimited & More, and AT&T Unlimited & More Premium. WatchTV will also be sold as a standalone service for $15 per month, with details on that option to be released later.

These new bundles, which bring together streaming content with mobile data, will clearly be a key strategy for AT&T going forward. Each of the new bundles will include a $15 monthly credit toward DirecTV Now, with the Premium option allowing users to apply that credit to DirecTV as well. The premium option will also include a subscription to a “premium service” of the user’s choice, including HBO and Pandora Premium.

The company suggests that WatchTV and its expansive new bundles are just the first stop toward bringing together streaming video and media with mobile data -- calling them the “first of new offers to come.”