Sprint made its own content play Monday with the announcement it has signed an agreement to acquire 33 percent of Jay Z’s music streaming service Tidal. Though the price of the deal was not disclosed, Billboard reported the buy comes at a cost of $200 million to the carrier.
Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure will join the board of Tidal, but Jay-Z and Tidal’s other artist-owners will continue to run the service, Sprint said.
“The passion and dedication that these artist-owners bring to fans will enable Sprint to offer new and existing customers access to exclusive content and entertainment experiences in a way no other service can,” Claure said in a statement.
The deal will give Sprint customers access to Tidal’s library of 42.5 million songs and 140,000 videos, as well as “unlimited access to exclusive artist content.” The carrier declined to comment on whether it is planning to zero rate Tidal streaming for its customers.
A Sprint spokeswoman said more details on exclusive offers and upcoming promotions from the pair will be announced “soon.”
Wells Fargo on Monday downgraded Verizon from outperform to market perform in the wake of the presidential election. According to Senior Analyst Jennifer Fritzsche, the move isn’t about fourth quarter earnings, but was rather made because the firm doesn’t believe Verizon’s outperformance since the election is sustainable “given growth headwinds in 2017.”
“We believe Street estimates for 2017 revenue are too high and do not fully factor in headwinds which include: (a) enhanced competitive intensity from TMUS and S, (b) service revenue pressure from migrating its base to installment plans (EIP,) (c) lack of significant scale in its emerging growth business, (d) perceived need to buy more spectrum in secondary market transaction remains overhang,” Fritzsche wrote. “Our 2017E revenue is $125.5B vs. Street consensus at $126.5B.”
AT&T announced the launch of its new International Day Pass solution for customers roaming abroad. The carrier said its customers will now be able to use their talk, text and data allowance in more than 100 countries across the globe for $10 per 24-hour period. The $10 fee will only be applied when the device is in use, AT&T said.
Covered destinations span Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean, including the United Kingdom, France, Italy, China, India, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, as well as Central and South America.
The plan is nearly identical to Verizon’s TravelPass offering, which allows customers to use their wireless plan allowances for $2 per day per line in Mexico and Canada and $10 per day per line in more than 100 other countries.