Wireless phone company T-Mobile will announce a new streaming television service next Tuesday, sources told The Desk on Thursday.
The announcement will be made Tuesday during a product keynote marketed as an “Un-Carrier Event,” two sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
The new offering will expand on T-Mobile’s current television service T-Vision, which costs $90 a month for around 150 local broadcast and pay TV channels coupled with thousands of on-demand TV shows and movies. The service has limited availability in a handful of metropolitan areas.
Packages and pricing for the new streaming television service were not immediately available, though sources said subscription fees are expected to be offered at a discount for T-Mobile wireless phone customers.
In addition to the service, executives are expected to announce the launch of a new Android TV-powered device that will pair the company’s streaming TV service with thousands of apps from the Google Play Store.
The device is manufactured by SEI Robotics, a Chinese company that also makes the popular Tivo Stream 4K Android TV dongle.
The service won’t be limited to T-Mobile’s streaming dongle: Sources confirmed the service will be supported on a number of streaming TV gadgets, including other Android TV-powered devices and Apple TV.
Apps for Roku and Amazon Fire TV devices have also been developed, though the sources weren’t sure if T-Mobile had reached agreements with either company to formally support those platforms. In recent years, Roku and Amazon have insisted on reaching formal agreements with subscription television services before pay TV apps are distribute on their platforms.
