T-Mobile's Mobile TV Service Waiting On 5G for Launch
Oct 31, 2018, 7:49 AM by Eric M. Zeman
T-Mobile is still hyping its forthcoming TV service, though its plans don't appear to be coming together as quickly as the company initially promised. During the company's recent earnings call with press, T-Mobile's Mike Sievert said when the TV service launches later this year, it won't be mobile. Instead, T-Mobile will offer some sort of fixed, in-home TV service. The mobile TV offering won't become a reality until next year. "We have our heads down creating the first TV service for the 5G era," said Sievert. "The journey will start later this year. We're very excited about that. And the second phase of the journey, next year, will be expanding into mobile. Because 5G is about mobility, not just fixed." Sievert went on to say the offering will include hundreds of high definition channels without the need for a cable box. All this will be based on the technology it gained when it purchased Layer3 TV. Layer3 already offers TV service in four markets in the U.S., though it is a more traditional, in-home service offering. T-Mobile hasn't said exactly when either TV service, in-home or mobile, will truly launch. The in-home service was initially expected to arrive in November. T-Mobile's 5G network won't get off the ground until some point during the first half of next year, so the mobile TV service will wait at least that long.
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