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Apple loses bidding war for J. J. Abrams' production studio
Don't look now, but a major Hollywood upset just happened... much to the chagrin of streaming outlets. Hollywood Reporter and Deadline sources say that AT&T-owned WarnerMedia is near closing a roughly $500 million deal with Bad Robot, the production studio from J. J. Abrams and his wife Katie McGrath. Bad Robot had reportedly entertained deals from internet-focused companies like Amazon, Apple and Netflix (plus conventional firms like Comcast and Sony), with tipsters claiming that Apple "came close" to landing the deal.
AT&T cancels Galaxy Fold pre-orders due to lengthy delay
AT&T held on to people's Galaxy Fold pre-orders even after Best Buy cancelled reservations back in May. Now that it's been almost a couple of months since Samsung's foldable device was supposed to come out, though, the carrier has decided that it's time to void pre-orders, as well. According to Tom's Guide, AT&T has sent out emails telling customers that their foldable phone pre-purchases have been cancelled. "Unfortunately," the letter reads, "Samsung delayed the release of the Fold, which means we can't ship your phone." The AT&T customers affected by the cancellation will receive a $100 promotion card and will be able to place another order once Samsung has a final release date.
AT&T's Galaxy S10 5G arrives June 17th, but only for business
Samsung's Galaxy S10 5G is finally ready to launch on a US network besides Verizon (Engadget's parent company), though you might not want to plan a purchase just yet. AT&T has announced that the S10 5G will be available on June 17th, but only for Business customers and 5G developers involved in the carrier's development program. You'll otherwise have to 'settle' for one of the LTE Galaxy S10 models. You do get a solid deal, at least, with a limited-run promo offering a 256GB model for the same $1,000 up front as the 128GB S10+ variant.
Streaming 'Dune' TV series will accompany the new movie
Dune fans have more to look forward to than a new movie and games. WarnerMedia has ordered a Dune: The Sisterhood series for its upcoming streaming service that will cover the mysterious Bene Gesserit order and its elaborate "superbeing" breeding program in the run-up to the events of the original Dune (and thus the movies). The show will have a clear spiritual connection to the 2020 film -- director Denis Villeneuve and writer Jon Spaihts will executive produce the show alongside Frank Herbert's family, with Villeneuve also heading up the pilot.
AT&T's streaming bundle with HBO could start at $16
AT&T's streaming video service, which will bundle HBO, Cinemax, and a wide selection of Warner Bro. films and television, is shaping up to be a surprisingly good deal. AT&T will be pricing the bundle at between $16 and $17 a month, reports the Wall Street Journal. Considering that HBO Now costs $14.99 a month, customers may opt to shell out the extra dollar or two a month to access Cinemax, as well as favorite shows and movies from Warner Bro.'s expansive archives, such as Friends and The Big Bang Theory.
Hollywood has long-term Netflix deals it can't shake
If you listened to traditional media giants like Disney and AT&T's WarnerMedia, you'd think Netflix was about to become a ghost town as well-known movies and TV shows vanish forever. However, that's not entirely true. Bloomberg has learned that Netflix has far-reaching deals that could not only keep movies and shows on the service for a while, but restore some of them later on. Disney, for instance, reportedly brings its 2016-2018 movies (including Black Panther) back to Netflix starting in 2026 -- a very long wait, but it's not the permanent cutoff implied in the past.
AT&T just made it possible to pay your phone bill with bitcoin
Have some spare bitcoin kicking around? You can put it toward your phone service. AT&T says it has become the first big US wireless carrier to accept cryptocurrency for online phone bill payments. Choose the BitPay option at MyAT&T and you can cover your bill with bitcoin instead of conventional funds. You can't use this in-store, alas, but it could make sense if you'd rather save old-school money for other purposes.
US carriers say they've stopped selling location data
You might not have to worry quite so much about carriers selling your phone location data to less-than-diligent third parties. AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon (Engadget's parent company) have provided responses to FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel's request for an update on the practice, with all four saying they'd halted sales to aggregators sometime after promising to do so back in June 2018. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all said they'd terminated their last sales at varying points in March 2019, while Sprint said it was ending its last deal with a location aggregator on May 31st.
FCC proposes blocking robocalls by default
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has been fighting robocalls for years, but as anyone with a cell phone can tell you, they're still getting through. Now, the Commission wants to make it legal for phone companies to block unwanted robocalls by default. Chairman Ajit Pai has circulated a declaratory ruling that, if adopted, would give carriers permission to develop new call blocking tools. The ruling could also allow consumers to prohibit calls from numbers that aren't on their contact lists.
AT&T will pull shows like 'Friends' from streaming rivals
Don't expect Warner-made shows like Friends to persist on existing streaming services once AT&T's WarnerMedia launches its offering. AT&T chief Randall Stephenson said at a JPMorgan conference that the company "will be bringing" many of its media rights back in-house to put those shows on its own as yet unnamed service. The platform will be a "significant driver" for the company over the next few years with "tens of millions" of customers, Stephenson said, and it reportedly needs exclusives to make that happen.
AT&T says it's the first US network to reach 2Gbps speeds on 5G
The chest-thumping over 5G continues. AT&T has reported that it achieved the first 2Gbps speeds on a 5G network in the US. It achieved the feat using a Netgear mobile router on the carrier's public-facing network in the Atlanta area. The performance comes less than a month after the provider cracked the gigabit mark in multiple cities.
AT&T’s fake 5GE icon is available in the Android Open Source Project
AT&T is still in hot water over its 5GE logo, but that's not slowing the company down. This week, the not-really-5G icon showed up in the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Meaning, whether you like it or not, 5GE could start showing up on Android smartphones using AT&T. According to XDA Developers, the AOSP code suggest that phones will only need to use 4G LTE with Carrier Aggregation to prompt the icon, so as critics have said, there's no guarantee that the logo will be anything more than a visual change.
Samsung's strange, gigantic Galaxy View is ready for round two
You probably weren't looking for a sequel to Samsung's lap-crushing Galaxy View tablet, but you're getting one anyway. AT&T has teased the release of the Galaxy View 2, another take on the Android tablet and mobile TV hybrid. It's not quite as colossal as its predecessor with a 17.3-inch 1080p display, and implements a clever built-in cover that doubles as a kickstand. Still, this could easily be awkward to use in tablet mode -- it's really more of a vehicle for DirecTV Now and other AT&T streaming services than something you'd use to check Facebook on the couch.
AT&T and Sprint settle lawsuit over faux 5G branding
To say AT&T's rivals were unhappy with its fake 5G branding is an understatement -- Sprint even filed a lawsuit against the carrier, accusing it of "blatantly misleading customers." The competitors must have hammered out a deal that's acceptable for both of them, though, because they've reached an amicable settlement a couple of months after the case was filed. Both carriers have confirmed the agreement to Engadget, but neither would talk about its details.
DC Universe scales back 'Swamp Thing' over 'creative differences'
Not all is well in DC Universe's rapidly growing... well, universe. Hollywood Reporter sources say Warner Bros. Television (part of the service's parent WarnerMedia) has cut its initial order for Swamp Thing from 13 episodes to 10 after running into "creative differences" with DC. It would still debut on May 31st -- DC has provided a teaser, shown below -- but the season wouldn't be as sprawling as originally planned. Both DC Universe and Warner Bros. have declined to comment on the apparent leak.
Hulu buys AT&T's stake, leaving Comcast and Disney as owners
Those rumors of AT&T ditching its stake in Hulu have proven true, although it didn't necessarily play out as expected. The telecom has reached a deal to sell its 9.5 percent stake in Hulu (worth about $1.43 billion) back to the joint venture. It's not certain exactly how this will shift the balance of power or affect content, but Hulu chief Randy Freer said AT&T's WarnerMedia would stay a "valued partner" for "years to come."
FCC announces 5G airwave auction and $20 billion rural broadband fund
The FCC has announced a spectrum auction and a $20.4 billion rural broadband fund to bolster connectivity across the US. The auction is scheduled to start December 10th, and it will be the largest slice of airwaves the FCC has auctioned for commercial use at one time, with 3,400 megahertz in three different spectrum bands up for grabs. Providers have been urging the FCC to open mid-band airwaves that can project signals over greater distances, which should bolster connectivity in rural areas.
AT&T's mobile 5G goes live in seven more cities
American carriers are still engaged in their endless game of 5G oneupmanship. AT&T has expanded its fledgling mobile 5G network to "parts" of seven more cities, including Austin, Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose. The move puts AT&T's real 5G in a total of 19 cities, making Verizon's (Engadget's parent company) two-city rollout seem modest by comparison. With that said, the usual caveats apply.
Verizon turns on its 5G mobile network a week ahead of schedule
Verizon has flipped the switch on the first parts of its 5G mobile network a week ahead of schedule. The service is live in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, just in time for the March Madness Final Four in the latter city this weekend. Once you move out of an area where the 5G network is active, the 4G LTE network will take over. 5G access with Verizon (which is Engadget's parent company) costs $10 on top of regular unlimited plans, though the first three months are free.
AT&T has the 'fastest wireless network' in the US
Just two days after AT&T declared itself the first 5G carrier in the US to reach gigabit speeds, the company has released a statement claiming it's the fastest wireless network in the nation. The findings come from third party network-testing company Ookla, which cited AT&T's top average US download speed at 40.7Mbps.