Eric Schwarz:

I sort of see the product as a public beta right now. It’s mostly complete, but with the amount of excitement and emphasis that AT&T is putting on it, they’d be morons not to tweak it a bit these first few months. By offering a discounted rate and free devices to early adopters, the risk is pretty low.

The thought of paying $35 or more each month for a streaming media service seems outrageous to me. Between the WWE Network and Hulu, I currently only pay $23 a month. What has me interested in the service, though, is the free devices they offer. The way I see it, if I pre-pay for three months of DirecTV Now, I’m essentially paying $105 for an Apple TV and getting the service for free. That’s a great deal even if I never launch the DirecTV app and cancel before it auto-renews.