AT&T plans three options for video-streaming in its competition against Netflix

AT&T Inc. is putting its new Time Warner arsenal of media properties to work, unveiling plans to roll out a three-tiered streaming-video service to compete with Netflix Inc.

One of the new products launching late next year will be a movies-only plan, the company said on Thursday. Another will have original programming as well as blockbuster films. And the highestpriced choice will include content licensed from other companies.

AT&T will have plenty of competition. Walt Disney Co. is introducing an online service with Star Wars and Marvel shows around the same time, and Jeffrey Katzenberg has a new short-form video project in the works. But AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson has to find new ways to retain TV viewers: His DirecTV Now online streaming service is going to lose subscribers this quarter and next, AT&T said.

The telecom giant provided the latest details as part of a presentation to analysts and investors, who are looking for signs that the company can get a payoff from its $85 billion Time Warner deal.

A surprising loss of both TV and wireless subscribers in the third-quarter raised concerns about the company’s core business and drew attention to its $183 billion debt load and a costly 5G network expansion ahead. AT&T’s top executives attempted to address those worries by targeting a leverage ratio of 2.5 times net debt to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by the end of 2019, down from the current pro forma ratio of 2.85 times. To raise cash to pay down debt the company suggested it could sell assets like real estate or its 10 percent Hulu stake.