AT&T Takes U-Turn on U-Verse as It Pushes Users Toward DirecTV

[Bruce]

AT&T Inc. is phasing out the U-verse TV service as it pushes new customers to newly acquired DirecTV, a sign the company is giving up on once-heralded plans to compete head-on with cable through telephone lines.
The biggest U.S. pay TV provider has stopped building U-verse set-top boxes and is nudging prospective customers toward its satellite unit, which has lower hardware and programming costs. The shift is the first stage of a plan to create a “home gateway” within three years that will consolidate all AT&T services and act as a central hub to deliver video to any device.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-on-u-verse-as-it-pushes-users-toward-directv

 

[navychop]

So THERE!

 

[dishrich]

Here's another take on it...note this:

http://www.multichannel.com/news/distribution/att-stops-making-u-verse-tv-boxes-report/402596

Update: AT&T said U-verse isn’t being phased out, and provided this statement: "To realize the many benefits of our DirecTV acquisition, we are leading our video marketing approach with DirecTV. However, our first priority is to listen to our customers and meet their needs, and if we determine a customer will be better served with the U-verse product, we offer attractive and compelling options."

But still, it's pretty telling to me that U-worse TV isn't going to be around for the long-term...

 

[Troch77]

So what about that special set-top box that a few claim they are testing that are state of the art and Hopper 3 should look out?

Mr Stephen Henson comes to mind, Yet he was requesting a Hopper 3.
So the universal box obviously was bogus.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[Jimbo]

AT&T Inc. is phasing out the U-verse TV service as it pushes new customers to newly acquired DirecTV, a sign the company is giving up on once-heralded plans to compete head-on with cable through telephone lines.
The biggest U.S. pay TV provider has stopped building U-verse set-top boxes and is nudging prospective customers toward its satellite unit, which has lower hardware and programming costs. The shift is the first stage of a plan to create a “home gateway” within three years that will consolidate all AT&T services and act as a central hub to deliver video to any device.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...-on-u-verse-as-it-pushes-users-toward-directv

Wow, another thread talking about the doom of U Verse ....

The will not be shutting off U Verse any time soon.
Yes they are leaning people towards D*, (you would to if you just bought the company)
For those that WANT U Verse and are in the U Verse footprint you will still be offered U Verse as well.

ATT has pushed D* since the day its purchase was finalized, nothing has changed.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

So what about that special set-top box that a few claim they are testing that are state of the art and Hopper 3 should look out?

From what I know that box is still over a year away from release.

 

[mdram]

From what I know that box is still over a year away from release.

so you know something........
just cant talk about it i assume.

any idea when they will at least let people know they are working on it?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They hint at it in the article.

 

[Jimbo]

Didn't ATT hire Ericsson to build new boxes ?

I would look to thier site to see if they have talked about anything new.

 

[CSM]

Didn't ATT hire Ericsson to build new boxes ?

I would look to thier site to see if they have talked about anything new.

I think it might just be the software. Ericsson has revamped Mediaroom as an all new platform built from the ground up and its now called MediaFirst. MediaFirst is designed to work with Cable, IPTV and SatelliteTV. They might also be doing the encoding because they have worked with DTV on that before. The guy they put in charge of merging the two platforms said he likes the Genie boxes and would be keeping those.

http://www.fiercecable.com/story/at...s-u-verse-subs-may-migrate-cheaper/2015-09-16

 

[Jimbo]

I think it might just be the software. Ericsson has revamped Mediaroom as an all new platform built from the ground up and its now called MediaFirst. MediaFirst is designed to work with Cable, IPTV and SatelliteTV. They might also be doing the encoding because they have worked with DTV on that before. The guy they put in charge of merging the two platforms said he likes the Genie boxes and would be keeping those.

http://www.fiercecable.com/story/at...s-u-verse-subs-may-migrate-cheaper/2015-09-16

Thats good news then, I like the Genie boxes as well.

My hope is that they Do make 1 box that handles both platforms, however, I don't want to see that Dual Platform being the only one available.

 

[goaliebob99]

Uverse is at END OF LIFE not End of Support. Meaning that Uverse isn't the preferred platform, DirecTV is. But they wont be adding any uverse subs anytime soon, but will support the existing subs and infrastructure for the time being. I see this ending when the next gen box is launched. Instead of relying on uverse's current IP architecture, it will run through the internet and ATT's backbone on a different IP architecture accessible to anyone with a combo type of box and anyone can connect to it via IP and satellite. The difference is AT&T wont be allocating special bandwidth for video and can launch bigger internet packages. Users who can get satellite will get it, and users who can't will get an IP based option, and the boxes will be able to do either or via user preference. I do see alot of content being delivered IP exclusively and maybe even the satellite part getting phased out eventually once the internet can support that type of video traffic.

ATT's biggest play is getting the majority of their wireless subs to sub to DirecTV and having the ability to watch from day one. They want you to be able to watch from the moment you have your account number.

 

[goaliebob99]

Thats good news then, I like the Genie boxes as well.

My hope is that they Do make 1 box that handles both platforms, however, I don't want to see that Dual Platform being the only one available.

I also like the fact they are keeping the genie hardware. I see ATT wanting only their box on the network. Although, if this thing with the FCC comes through, it would be cool to get a hopper on DTV.

 

[CSM]

Uverse is at END OF LIFE not End of Support. Meaning that Uverse isn't the preferred platform, DirecTV is. But they wont be adding any uverse subs anytime soon, but will support the existing subs and infrastructure for the time being. I see this ending when the next gen box is launched. Instead of relying on uverse's current IP architecture, it will run through the internet and ATT's backbone on a different IP architecture accessible to anyone with a combo type of box and anyone can connect to it via IP and satellite. The difference is AT&T wont be allocating special bandwidth for video and can launch bigger internet packages. Users who can get satellite will get it, and users who can't will get an IP based option, and the boxes will be able to do either or via user preference. I do see alot of content being delivered IP exclusively and maybe even the satellite part getting phased out eventually once the internet can support that type of video traffic.

ATT's biggest play is getting the majority of their wireless subs to sub to DirecTV and having the ability to watch from day one. They want you to be able to watch from the moment you have your account number.

Scott in his rumor said it would be IPTV and not just the regular Internet. However the new box said it would accept all Internet providers which makes me think like you it wouldn't be over IPTV just IP. I think a lot of people are confusing IPTV with just the regular Internet. That would be another way for AT&T to get video off of their network. However would doing UVerseTV over just the Internet and not IPTV bog down the Internet?

 

[goaliebob99]

Scott in his rumor said it would be IPTV and not just the regular Internet. However the new box said it would accept all Internet providers which makes me think like you it wouldn't be over IPTV just IP. I think a lot of people are confusing IPTV with just the regular Internet. That would be another way for AT&T to get video off of their network. However would doing UVerseTV over just the Internet and not IPTV bog down the Internet?

Your confused. IPTV can run over any platform including the internet. It's all IP based off of internet protocols. There is nothing that says IPTV has to be on it's own network. It can run over anything. Short answer on IPTV boging down the internet is no. Look at netflix. They are the worlds largest video provider and the internet runs fine with all of that video traffic. What I see ATT doing is carrying the video traffic over their backbones throughout the country and off loading it at local pops to the comcasts and centurylink's of the world. The same peering that happens now. If slowness does happen it would be on the local ISP to upgrade their network. With Gigabit connections this is becoming much less of an issue.

 

[CSM]

Uverse is at END OF LIFE not End of Support. Meaning that Uverse isn't the preferred platform, DirecTV is. But they wont be adding any uverse subs anytime soon, but will support the existing subs and infrastructure for the time being. I see this ending when the next gen box is launched. Instead of relying on uverse's current IP architecture, it will run through the internet and ATT's backbone on a different IP architecture accessible to anyone with a combo type of box and anyone can connect to it via IP and satellite. The difference is AT&T wont be allocating special bandwidth for video and can launch bigger internet packages. Users who can get satellite will get it, and users who can't will get an IP based option, and the boxes will be able to do either or via user preference. I do see alot of content being delivered IP exclusively and maybe even the satellite part getting phased out eventually once the internet can support that type of video traffic.

ATT's biggest play is getting the majority of their wireless subs to sub to DirecTV and having the ability to watch from day one. They want you to be able to watch from the moment you have your account number.

Scott in his rumor said it would be IPTV and not just the regular Internet. However the new box said it would accept all Internet providers which makes me think like you it wouldn't be over IPTV just IP. I think a lot of people are confusing IPTV with just the regular Internet. That would be another way for AT&T to get video off of their network. However would doing UVerseTV over just the Internet and not IPTV bog down the Internet?

Your confused. IPTV can run over any platform including the internet. It's all IP based off of internet protocols. There is nothing that says IPTV has to be on it's own network. It can run over anything. Short answer on IPTV boging down the internet is no. Look at netflix. They are the worlds largest video provider and the internet runs fine with all of that video traffic. What I see ATT doing is carrying the video traffic over their backbones throughout the country and off loading it at local pops to the comcasts and centurylink's of the world. The same peering that happens now. If slowness does happen it would be on the local ISP to upgrade their network. With Gigabit connections this is becoming much less of an issue.

Sorry, I missed your comment on a different IP architecture

 

[TheTechGuru]

Really dumb move IMO considering how there are more and more restrictions being pushed on where installers can mount satellites these days.

I'm sure the cable companies are happy about this!

 

[Hutch1814]

Wow, another thread talking about the doom of U Verse ....

The will not be shutting off U Verse any time soon.
Yes they are leaning people towards D*, (you would to if you just bought the company)
For those that WANT U Verse and are in the U Verse footprint you will still be offered U Verse as well.

ATT has pushed D* since the day its purchase was finalized, nothing has changed.

I've actually had customers that tried to get U-verse here in central Indiana told that it was no longer available. Had one today that had U-verse a few years back and tried to switch, they wouldn't let them. They tried and tried and still Directv for them

 

[Jimbo]

I've actually had customers that tried to get U-verse here in central Indiana told that it was no longer available. Had one today that had U-verse a few years back and tried to switch, they wouldn't let them. They tried and tried and still Directv for them

Thats sad, thats not what is suppose to happen, if they want U Verse and are in the U Verse area, they are suppose to be able to get it.

Have them call back.

 

[TheTechGuru]

I've actually had customers that tried to get U-verse here in central Indiana told that it was no longer available. Had one today that had U-verse a few years back and tried to switch, they wouldn't let them. They tried and tried and still Directv for them

I know people in apartment complexes that can only choose between AT&T UVerse TV and Time Warner Cable. NO SATELLITES ALLOWED! What's going to happen to them?

Now the only good thing I can see out of this is once everyone is knocked off of UVerse TV that should free up a lot of bandwidth to be able to offer much higher internet speeds right? But unlike fiber to the home (FTTP) FIOS, the curb to home is copper (FTTN) with UVerse. VDSL2 only supports 100mbps/100mbps while decent enough for most of us this hardly competes with 16 channel DOCSIS 3 cable internet. Unless AT&T wants to expand to do FTTP like FIOS I don't see how they can be competitive with cable.