T-Mobile giving Netflix for free to family plan subscribers

T-Mobile (NASDAQ:TMUS) announced Wednesday that it’s giving all family plan subscribers who are on its unlimited data plans free access to Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX).

Through the exclusive partnership, T-Mobile hopes to retain more lucrative family accounts as competition remains steady in the telecom sector. CEO John Legere said in a statement that “the future is mobile” and while other carriers spend billions on “their franken-strategies to cobble together carrier–cable–content mashups,” T-Mobile has just leapfrogged them all by partnering with the “best” service out there.

Reed Hastings, co-founder and CEO of Netflix added that the move works for “all the right reasons.”

“More and more fans are bingeing on mobile, so we’re bringing together Netflix’s award-winning TV shows and movies with T-Mobile’s award-winning, unlimited network,” Hastings said in a statement.

The deal could also boost Netflix’s U.S. audience growth, which has only increased 10% for the year ending on June 30 to just under 52 million.

As for T-Mobile customers, the new partnership saves them around $10 per month — which is the current subscription fee for Netflix subscribers.

According to T-Mobile, Americans have crossed a tipping point, spending over 50% of screen time on their smartphones and digital devices versus traditional TV. And that trend is expected to accelerate further, with estimates saying it could more than double by 2020.

AT&T (NYSE:T), a major T-Mobile competitor, did a similar deal with Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) back in April when they announced that all subscribers on its mobile unlimited plan would also get a free subscription to the premium network HBO.