T-Mobile and YouTube have come to terms after a spat over the phone company’s Binge On video streaming service.
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One of the loudest voices of criticism when T-Mobile launched Binge On was none other than Google, but it would appear the two companies have patched things up. When the video streaming was announced, T-Mobile stated that all videos the carrier could identify would be streamed at a much-reduced quality, regardless of whether or not the carrier is a partner of Binge On service.
YouTube is the latest video platform to join controversial T-Mobile US Inc (NASDAQ:TMUS) Binge on Program.
“One video provider has seen the number of active viewers spike 90% and watch-times almost triple from customers with limited high-speed data”.
However, YouTube has now agreed to be a part of the program, as T-Mobile is letting the content providers the authority to manage video resolutions themselves. They suggest that “while Verizon and AT&T punish their customers with overages and chase their own misguided video apps, T-Mobile customers can watch all they want from the best video services out there”.
The other new additions are Discovery GO, Fox Business, Baeble Music, ESNE, FilmOn.TV, Red Bull TV, KlowdTV, and Google Play Movies. “This was not the case with T-Mobile’s Binge On”, MiKandi CEO Jesse Adams said in a (NSFW) blog post.
But it’s unlikely T-Mobile is feeling any further pressure to change. The service lets users stream video without it counting toward a customer’s data plan. YouTube revealed that the company was interfering with its video traffic and delivering media to users at a lower quality.
Net neutrality advocates like the EFF argued that the program should be opt in instead of opt out, voicing concerns that T-mobile continues to ignore. Since the program launched almost four months ago, T-Mobile users are watching “twice as many hours” of video per day, “in longer and more frequent viewing sessions”, the company said.
T-Mobile said Thursday it would make it possible for video providers to contact them and “opt-out” so their videos would not be throttled. Binge On now boasts more than 50 video services that represent 70 percent of all of the videos that the carrier’s customers watch on their devices.
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In December, Google said that T-Mobile wasn’t just limiting the quality of the video coming from its Binge On partners, such as Netflix, but also from those that weren’t even participating, such as YouTube.
