T-Mobile adds YouTube and more to its Binge On streaming

Following a round of additions to its Binge On initiative in January, T-Mobile is tacking on more content to the data-free video option. Beginning today, YouTube, Google Play Movies, Red Bull TV, Discovery Go, Fox Business, Baeble Music, ESNE TV, FilmOn.TV and KlowdTV won't count against that data cap when you stream video on the Un-carrier. The company says today's group pushes the total services available via Binge On to more than 50. Of course, the videos you watch are "mobile optimized," so don't expect Ultra HD quality.

Speaking of quality, T-Mobile also announced today that it would give content providers the option to bypass Binge On. If a company prefers for its video to stream at a native resolution, it can choose to do so. However, it will count against customers' data allotment and won't be included the data-free streaming push. The carrier is also giving content providers the ability to optimize content themselves for Binge On, rather than having T-Mobile do it for them. In fact, YouTube, which was added today, will be one of the first to leverage the new option. This makes a lot of sense considering the video hosting site was critical of the carrier "throttling" video quality without permission late last year.