By Mae Anderson, Technology Writer
NEW YORK (AP) --AT&T is launching a new streaming service incorporating television networks from the Time Warner company it just bought.
The WatchTV service, a cable-like package of more than 30 TV channels delivered over the internet, is an example of the "skinny bundles" coming from telecom and broadband providers as more people watch TV online. Competitors include Sling TV, PlayStation Vue and AT&T's own DirecTV Now.
WatchTV will be free for subscribers of two unlimited wireless plans AT&T is launching. Others can get WatchTV for $15 — $20 less than DirecTV Now, but with just half the channels.
Thursday's announcement comes just days after AT&T closed its $81 billion Time Warner deal. AT&T said it needs to combine its distribution channels with entertainment properties to compete with internet-based rivals like Amazon, Netflix and Google, although the wireless carrier has a direct connection to its 92 million subscribers that its internet rivals do not. The Department of Justice sued to block the Time Warner deal on anti-competition concerns, but a federal judge sided with AT&T.
WatchTV is the first example of how AT&T plans to marry distribution and programming from Time Warner. If it gets enough subscribers, it will be able to collect valuable data and offer more personalized content — and ads.
But with people paying for a growing number of services like HBO, Hulu, Netflix and DirectTV Now, streaming can end up being just as expensive as cable, if not more so.
The new service will offer 31 channels at launch, including CNN, TBS and TNT — all part of Time Warner's Turner networks. It won't feature any sports networks — no ESPN for subscribers — but is heavy on news and entertainment offerings such as AMC, the History Channel, BBC America, Lifetime and Oprah Winfrey's OWN.
Six more channels, including Comedy Central, will be available "soon after launch," according to a lineup provided by AT&T.
DirecTV Now starts at $35 a month for more than 60 channels, including sports channels, with additional channels available at higher prices.
The new wireless plans will be AT&T's only unlimited offerings for new customers, though existing customers can keep their current plans. They would need to upgrade to a new plan, though, to get WatchTV for free. The new plans start at $70 a month for a single line, $5 more than the current cheapest plan, though the new plans offer more benefits, too.
Subscribers of current and new plans can also get $15 a month off DirecTV Now. However, AT&T will no longer include HBO for free on all unlimited plans, although the more expensive of the two plans, which starts at $80, will offer one free premium video or music service, such as HBO, Showtime or Amazon Music Unlimited. HBO is also part of Time Warner.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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