Quibi lands US distribution deal with T-Mobile

Quibi, the Jeffrey Katzenberg-founded short-form mobile TV platform, has announced a partnership with T-Mobile for its April 2020 launch. 

The deal will see the mobile carrier be Quibi’s exclusive wireless distributor at launch in the US. The service will not be exclusive to T-Mobile customers, with it being thought that T-Mobile will promote Quibi heavily within its own service and offer discounts to its customers. 

Quibi will launch April 6 2020 in both ad-supported and ad-free at US$5 and US$8 per month respectively. The title, Quibi, is indicative of the type of content offered on the platform, with the name being a shortened version of ‘quick bites’. It is going to be targeted at smartphone-native consumers with episodes running at 10 minutes or less. 

It has raised over US$1 billion in funding from investors including Disney, WarnerMedia, Viacom, NBCUniversal and Alibaba Group. 

The company is investing heavily in content, and has announced scripted and unscripted content from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Guillermo del Toro, Cathering Hardwick and Anna Kendrick. 

CEO Meg Whitman said: “Quibi will deliver premium video content for millennials on a technology platform that is built exclusively for mobile, so a telecommunications partner like T-Mobile, with their broad coverage today and impressive 5G roadmap, is the perfect fit.”

John Legere, T-Mobile’s CEO, said: “Of course Quibi and T-Mobile are working together – we’re two mobile-centric disruptors committed to challenging the status quo and giving customers incredible experiences. Quibi is completely re-imagining video content for a mobile-first world, and that’s what makes this such a strong partnership.”