att

AT&T To Offer Bundles With Instant Streaming

att

In a sign of how quickly AT&T hopes to capitalize on its recent acquisition, the wireless provider has just announced a new plan for consumers that incorporates DirecTV’s television programming and mobile devices.

The new strategy is part of a bundle of TV, cellular service, and AT&T is marketing the so-called All-in-One plans by marketing that it’s the only company that offers a nationwide video and wireless package on 1 single account. Customers who sign up for DirecTV and add on a wireless plan start paying at rates of $200 a month, $160 for a basic phone plan with 10 GB of shared data across four lines and $50 for TV, and a $10-a-month discount off your bill for signing onto the plan.

AT&T is also offering other incentives to get people to switch, such as giving DirecTV subscribers a $300 credit if they start buying AT&T’s cell coverage, too. And, as many expected it might, AT&T is making DirecTV’s programming available on mobile devices.

It’s clear from AT&T’s marketing what it really hopes those new subscriptions will do: Get more people using its cellular data network to watch bandwidth-intensive video. From the moment you walk out of the AT&T store with your new plan in place, the company says, you’ll be able to start watching DirecTV on your phone or tablet, even before the technician arrives to install any equipment in your home.

AT&T understands that as more people come to view Internet access as a necessity, it will have to keep offering new features like exclusive video over its networks to keep things fresh. Capitalizing on content is the new big trend among Internet providers, whether it’s Comcast buying NBCUniversal in 2011, Verizon buying AOL or AT&T buying DirecTV.