AT&T CEO Plans to ‘Go Hard’ on Sponsored Data for Streaming Subscribers

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson and CFO John Stephens shed light on the company’s fourth-quarter finances and future outlook as the world’s largest telecom company continues its evolution into a media empire. One thing they aren’t overly concerned with: the future of “zero rating,” which has helped its new streaming service DirecTV Now accumulate more than 200,000 subscribers in less than two months of operation.

AT&T uses zero rating to not charge its wireless customers for data they use while streaming DirecTV Now, the over-the-top service the company launched in November that opened with a promotional offer of more than 100 channels for $35 a month. The Federal Communications Commission sent a letter to AT&T in December expressing competitive concern about zero rating, but with a new regime led by network neutrality opponent Ajit Pai — installed by President Donald Trump — Stephenson isn’t worried about its longer-term prospects. “We actually were quite confident that zero rating as we were implementing was fine under a Pai chairmanship,” Stephenson said, remarking that AT&T was “going hard” when it was putting together that capability. “You should expect us to continue that, and continue to push aggressively on this.”