AT&T Will Zero-Rate HBO Max, Undermining Competition

With the streaming wars intensifying this year, every service provider is looking for any advantage it can get in order to earn a piece of your monthly entertainment budget. Many years ago, telecommunications giants dreamed up the idea of sponsored data, where a company offering some online service could pay for the underlying data used to access that service. The practice is also called zero-rating, and it has garnered considerable criticism over the years for undermining net neutrality and competition more broadly.

That's exactly what AT&T (NYSE: T) is planning to do with HBO Max, the successor to HBO Now that launched last week.

AT&T will pay itself for sponsored data usage. Image source: AT&T.

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Source Fool.com