That includes luring subscribers with exclusives.
To stage a true comeback, T-Mobile will need to lure subscribers from rivals like AT&T and Verizon.
It will add features to lure subscribers and keep them, says Mike Darcey, News UK's boss, who learned such techniques while at BSkyB, a satellite broadcaster.
It would give Verizon, which sells Samsung, Palm and BlackBerry smartphones, another device to lure subscribers who do not prefer the AT&T network.
During a recent call with investors, Lowell McAdams, Verizon's newly appointed chief executive, said it was not inconceivable that carriers might once again dangle unlimited data plans to lure subscribers.
Daniel R. Hesse, chief executive of Sprint, said 44 percent of the people buying iPhones were new customers, evidence that Sprint was luring subscribers from its competitors, perhaps with its unlimited data plans, which AT&T and Verizon do not offer.
That brand perception, Mr. Golvin said, will matter more in the coming months as AT&T and Verizon battle it out for the dominant portion of carrier market share and try to lure subscribers away from one another.
Verizon Wireless also struggled to appeal to new customers in the quarter, which ended Sept. 30, adding fewer than its main competitor, AT&T, which is still luring subscribers to its service with the iPhone.
Executives of at least one cable operator, Cox Communications, said that it had no plans for a more aggressive campaign to lure subscribers, in part because such battles between programmers and distributors have ended quickly in the past.
Netflix started by using expansive libraries of previously broadcast TV and films to lure subscribers, but in recent years it has increasingly focussed on original content it pays to show first.
