The plan has gained momentum as Netflix, Hulu and Amazon have drawn in subscribers for their video offerings.
There's been talk about YouTube creating a paid subscription option for more than a year, and it has gained momentum as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon have drawn in subscribers for their video offerings.
That saving, Mr. Sharma said, along with the influx of millions of new consumers, might persuade the company to be more competitive in family data plans as a way to draw in new subscribers and increase competition with Verizon, the new company's chief rival.
DirecTV Now will have some exclusive programming, which it hopes will help it draw in new subscribers.
T-Mobile's move may be a pro-consumer one meant to draw in new subscribers, but from a high level, it's right to question if carriers should have this sort of power over their networks.
"Showtime has become a high-growth, high-margin business for CBS in recent years, as successful original programming has drawn in more subscribers," David C. Joyce, a media industry analyst for Miller Tabak, said in an e-mail message.
The idea, then, was not to get people to switch streaming music providers, but to also use Prime Music in addition to others, as well as to draw in new Prime subscribers who can tick off access to free music as another reason to join Amazon's paid program.
The other 1.5 million households belong to a consortium called the National Rural Telecommunication Cooperative, which pays DirecTV a licensing fee to resell its services in certain areas and makes no marketing effort to draw more subscribers in those regions.
The company says it expects the highly anticipated series to draw new subscribers in what is typically a weak quarter.
