T-Mobile signs deal with upcoming movie streaming service Quibi
Quibi will launch in April 2020.
- I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
The Quibi streaming service is scheduled to launch in April 2020.
T-Mobile has signed a deal with short movie streaming service Quibi, the companies said on Friday. The carrier will be Quibi's exclusive wireless distributor when the service launches in April 2020, as reported earlier by the Los Angeles Times.
Meg Whitman, Quibi CEO and former Hewlett Packard Enterprise chief executive, said in an emailed press release the service will "deliver premium video content for millennials on a technology platform that is built exclusively for mobile."
"A telecommunications partner like T-Mobile, with their broad coverage today and impressive 5G roadmap, is the perfect fit," Whitman said.
T-Mobile and Quibi said more details of their partnership will be coming soon.
Originally announced as NewTV, the name of the Hollywood startup was changed to Quibi -- short for "quick bites" -- in October last year. It received $1 billion in funding from Hollywood studios to launch a service with high-end, short-form shows made especially for mobile users.
Quibi leaders Jeffrey Katzenberg and Whitman last year said some of the content will include a "modern zombie story" created by Guillermo del Toro, an anthology called 50 States of Fear by Spider-Man director Sam Raimi, a project called Wolves and Villagers from the production company that made Get Out and a modernization of Dog Day Afternoon.
The service was originally expected to launch by late 2019 at a cost of $5 a month with advertising, or $8 a month ad-free.
