T-Mobile jumping into the pay-TV market

LOS ANGELES – Scrappy wireless carrier T-Mobile is looking to take on the pay-TV market.

No. 3 carrier T-Mobile said it will acquire Layer3 TV, which has launched an Internet-based pay-TV service in a handful of markets and plans to go national in 2018.

The move will help T-Mobile compete with rival AT&T, which owns DirecTV and markets the satellite-based pay TV service to its customers in bundles for lower cellphone rates.

“People love their TV, but they hate their TV providers,” said T-Mobile CEO John Legere. “And worse, they have no real choice but to simply take it — the crappy customer service, clunky technology and outrageous bills loaded with fees!”

Legere vowed to change the way consumers look at pay TV, with fewer pain points and more choices. Layer3’s current offering is in Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver and Washington, D.C.

In L.A., it offers 275 channels and a DVR box for $75 monthly, which isn’t that competitive with cable. Traditional cable service Spectrum, for instance, charges $70 monthly for 200 channels, and unlike Layer3, Spectrum customers don’t need to already have an Internet connection, which adds to the monthly bill.

“We’re going to ditch everything you hate about cable TV and make everything you love about it better,” said Jeff Binder, CEO of Layer3 TV.

He promises 250 channels of cable, along with Internet entertainment services such as Netflix and Hulu.