YouTube and Google Play Movies will now be participating in US-based carrier T-Mobile's Binge On programme, the company announced on its public policy blog. YouTube's participation in the programme comes after a few months after it criticized T-Mobile for reducing video quality on YouTube to 480p in order to reduce data usage on its networks. In November, T-Mobile introduced its zero rating platform for video services as they use a lot of T-Mobile’s bandwidth. Netflix, Hulu and HBO signed on the platform where these services could stream without any data caps or throttling. At the time, YouTube chose not to be part of the programme. "Over the last several months, we raised these concerns with T-Mobile, and they’ve heard us and others who provided similar feedback," Google said on the blog. It added that T-Mobile worked to improve notice and choice for users. T-Mobile would better clarify to participants what optimization means, and what the impacts of turning on or off Binge On will be. The mobile carrier made it easier to turn the service on or off. Instead of having to click through a series of menus, consumers can turn it off with an SMS short code, with two clicks from the T-Mobile app, or with one click from the T-Mobile website. "Any user can toggle Binge On off and on, and the change will take effect within minutes -- which significantly improves the user experience," Google added. Another change T-Mobile made was that it gave video providers more information and choice about programme participation.…
