Last month, T-Mobile boosted its Binge On feature by having it support more audio and video streaming services, including Google Play Music, Spotify and Tidal.
Binge On allows T-Mobile subscribers to do away with data caps for unlimited video streaming. The trade-off is that videos are downgraded to 480p, which is DVD quality and less than HD quality, but good enough when viewing content through smartphones.
T-Mobile is seemingly not content with the capabilities of Binge On, as it is making moves to secure another big-name partner for the feature.
According to Recode, T-Mobile is working with Facebook to sign up the social network as a Binge On partner. If Facebook agrees to team up with T-Mobile for Binge On, the Uncarrier's subscribers will be able to watch videos on the social network without eating up their data allowance in their monthly plans.
Sources claim that the two companies have been in discussion over the proposed partnership for some time. Securing Facebook as a partner for Binge On will make the feature much more potent and could potentially attract more subscribers to switch to T-Mobile from other carriers.
The news comes just as Facebook has been placing heightened focus on its video capabilities, in particular live video streaming. Recent new features announced for Facebook with a focus on video include the ability of users to upload videos as a part of their comments to posts and the upcoming functionality to live stream video games by Blizzard through Facebook Live.
Signing up as a Binge On partner will also be a winning situation for Facebook, as it would allow T-Mobile subscribers to watch many more videos on the social network, leading to increased usage rates and advertising revenue.
When T-Mobile launched Binge On last year, the partners of the feature already included popular services and networks such as Netflix, HBO, Hulu, ESPN, Fox Sports and DirecTV. YouTube was notably missing from the list, but the video sharing website has been added in March.
T-Mobile has said that it is open to accommodating any interested parties who would like to be included as a Binge On partner. Any companies looking to sign up as a partner would have to do certain technical work on their services to ensure that the video streams will be identified by T-Mobile as part of the Binge On feature.
This work is still ongoing with Facebook, according to sources, with no timetable mentioned on when the partnership can be expected to be enforced.
