Today AT&T announced new details about their new subscription streaming service they plan to launch later this year. For some time now we have known that there would be multiple subscription plans. Now we have learned the lower level plans will include ads even though you are paying. If you want an ad-free experience you will have to pay a higher cost similar to Hulu’s ad-free option.

“Customers have become accustomed to advertising-free subscription services,” AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said. “And we think HBO and a lot of the Warner Brothers content, that’s really premium content, will fit into that mold,” he said. “But there are other elements where advertising-supported models are going to be important to keep prices down, to keep costs for the consumer down and actually fund additional content acquisition and purchasing,” Stephenson went on to add.

According to AT&T, their new on-demand service will launch in the fourth quarter of 2019 and it will include three levels: a basic entry-level option that will offer movies, a premium service level with original HBO programming and “blockbuster movies,” and a final level that will include the first two plus additional content from WarnerMedia and other content providers. It is very likely that the basic entry-level option will be the one that has ads included. Higher level plans will likely be ad-free.

Source: Tech Crunch