Is AT&T gutting DIRECTV?

[Willh699]

i think that the future of DirecTV could be either merge with Dish, merge with Orby or merge with Comcast becoming DirecTV by Xfinity to bring Xfinity TV to rural America without the investment of installing cable and fiber optic cables. but merge with Dish might be the best option, but it may leave with DirecTV losing their RSNs and sports lovers options if cheapo Charlie takes over as seen with Dish's feud with Sinclair Broadcasting Group, NB universal, and AT&T's WarnerMedia.

 

[SamCdbs]

The myth of TV over internet as the next universal thing has three huge flaws.

- All of the math is predicated on people having high speed internet anyway. Not everybody wants internet. Many people are happy without it. Add an otherwise unwanted internet bill and a linear TV bill together, and cable/DBS is cheaper.

- The idea that most “everybody” will have access to high speed internet “soon” is just wrong. Millions will never have it.

- Internet TV is just not ready for prime time. It could not handle a simple golf match between Tiger and Phil. It is going to carry the Super Bowl to 300 M homes? Laugh.

But in any event, the idea that AT&T bought a customer list, so it could sell “cord cutters” (actually cord switchers) on its fungible internet TV service is silly.

I can get a better potential customer list. It’s called a phone book.

 

[CSM]

What if DTV didn’t keep NFL Sunday ticket then how many customers would leave? Would that be another reason for AT&T to sell DTV?

 

[SpaethCo]

Internet TV is just not ready for prime time. It could not handle a simple golf match between Tiger and Phil. It is going to carry the Super Bowl to 300 M homes? Laugh.

If we’re talking about taking live TV and mapping it straight to Internet delivery, I agree there are all kinds of problems with scaling the infrastructure to meet that kind of demand. Things continue to improve, and even HBO Go/NOW was able to keep up with Game of Thrones demand this year.

Not everything is a live mass-watch event though. 90% of content spread across linear broadcast channels can be put into on-demand catalogs, and you could get reasonable statistical multiplexing to balance out that load.

Chances that a significant quantity of people are all going to turn on “the big game” at the exact same time? Pretty high.

Chances that a significant quantity of people are all going to start watching something on Netflix at the exact same time? Much, much lower.

 

[Inclined Orbit]

Are you forgetting ATTs 5yr plan from not long ago to ditch satellites and deliver all content via broad band? That right there says ATT expects to have enough of the country wired or or set up with 5G or whatever its replacement will be. That also tells me they know the end is coming for satellite distribution of TV. 5yrs is a long time for technology and build outs to march forward.

The myth of TV over internet as the next universal thing has three huge flaws.

- All of the math is predicated on people having high speed internet anyway. Not everybody wants internet. Many people are happy without it. Add an otherwise unwanted internet bill and a linear TV bill together, and cable/DBS is cheaper.

- The idea that most “everybody” will have access to high speed internet “soon” is just wrong. Millions will never have it.

- Internet TV is just not ready for prime time. It could not handle a simple golf match between Tiger and Phil. It is going to carry the Super Bowl to 300 M homes? Laugh.

But in any event, the idea that AT&T bought a customer list, so it could sell “cord cutters” (actually cord switchers) on its fungible internet TV service is silly.

I can get a better potential customer list. It’s called a phone book.

 

[slice1900]

Are you forgetting ATTs 5yr plan from not long ago to ditch satellites and deliver all content via broad band? That right there says ATT expects to have enough of the country wired or or set up with 5G or whatever its replacement will be. That also tells me they know the end is coming for satellite distribution of TV. 5yrs is a long time for technology and build outs to march forward.

Do you have a link to where AT&T has publicly stated such a five year plan? Because only a week ago AT&T's CEO said:

the DirecTV satellite service, which he said still produces more than $4 billion in free cash flow per year, will have a long life. But he reiterated that AT&T TV, the company’s upcoming streaming TV service, will be the primary vehicle for going to market.​

So no, they are not going to "ditch satellites" and deliver all content by broadband. They will prefer to sell new customers on AT&T TV once that's fully launched because they save a lot of money on the install, but they aren't going to shut down Directv. Once installed, it isn't any cheaper to deliver to customers via streaming than it is satellite.

Roughly 2/3 of a customer's bill goes directly to networks to pay for the content, and they pay the networks the same regardless of delivery method. Most of the rest of the customer bill covers overhead like CSRs, billing, accounting etc. which is the same regardless of delivery method. Even if you could wave a magic wand and make all the ongoing cost of satellite delivery (broadcast centers etc.) go away customers would barely notice the difference if it was passed on to them as a discount on their bill.

 

[Inclined Orbit]

It was publicly announced a year or so back plus DirecTV has no plans for any future satellites and DTV management stated to me they want to be more like the Netflix model with all streaming and no hardware. Plus their receiver research and development group is gone as far as I know, the techs that work on the RF uplink equipment to the satellites at the broadcast centers have been told to learn new tasks because their jobs will go away in the future, the group that builds out new RF uplink equipment has almost all been laid off and many other things point to DTV satellites going away in the not too distant future.

Most people out here come up with predictions completely out of their butt where I'm getting information from current ATT/DirecTV employees. Different butts but probably more accurate.

Do you have a link to where AT&T has publicly stated such a five year plan? Because only a week ago AT&T's CEO said:

the DirecTV satellite service, which he said still produces more than $4 billion in free cash flow per year, will have a long life. But he reiterated that AT&T TV, the company’s upcoming streaming TV service, will be the primary vehicle for going to market.​

So no, they are not going to "ditch satellites" and deliver all content by broadband. They will prefer to sell new customers on AT&T TV once that's fully launched because they save a lot of money on the install, but they aren't going to shut down Directv. Once installed, it isn't any cheaper to deliver to customers via streaming than it is satellite.

Roughly 2/3 of a customer's bill goes directly to networks to pay for the content, and they pay the networks the same regardless of delivery method. Most of the rest of the customer bill covers overhead like CSRs, billing, accounting etc. which is the same regardless of delivery method. Even if you could wave a magic wand and make all the ongoing cost of satellite delivery (broadcast centers etc.) go away customers would barely notice the difference if it was passed on to them as a discount on their bill.

 

[CSM]

At some point in the not too distant future the majority of the US will be wired for high speed Internet or some wireless solution will bring high speed to every house. At that point satellite TV will be doomed because everybody will be able to get any channel they want without satellite and competition between providers should bring prices down. Unfortunately the future looks grim (to me) for DirecTV and Dish and do you think ATT is blind to this?

So will the HS-17 and the C61k be the last DTV boxes that will be made?

 

[HoTat2]

So will the HS-17 and the C61k be the last DTV boxes that will be made?

Good question ....

Sheesh, ... based on I.O.'s inside info. at this rate I'm supprised DIRECTV can maintain the current crop of receiver equipment they have much less develop any new models ...

Wow, may the last ones to leave not forget to turn out the proverbial lights then ...

AT&T certainly living up to its logo's reputation as a sign of the "Deathstar" ...

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[Inclined Orbit]

I don't know, its been a long time since I worked with the set top box people. DirecTV used to have a huge receiver research and development group and from what I've seen its all gut gone. That doesn't mean a set top box mfr won't submit a new design on their own dime. Maybe I need to make a few phone calls and ask about this.

So will the HS-17 and the C61k be the last DTV boxes that will be made?

 

[comp9]

Are you forgetting ATTs 5yr plan from not long ago to ditch satellites and deliver all content via broad band? That right there says ATT expects to have enough of the country wired or or set up with 5G or whatever its replacement will be. That also tells me they know the end is coming for satellite distribution of TV. 5yrs is a long time for technology and build outs to march forward.

ATT is a good 10 years to covering the US with enough 5G to do what you say. Hell they still can’t get 3G/LTE to a large portion of customers. On the wired front unless ATT plans to buy Comcast they have an extremely small wired footprint

 

[comp9]

It was publicly announced a year or so back plus DirecTV has no plans for any future satellites and DTV management stated to me they want to be more like the Netflix model with all streaming and no hardware. Plus their receiver research and development group is gone as far as I know, the techs that work on the RF uplink equipment to the satellites at the broadcast centers have been told to learn new tasks because their jobs will go away in the future, the group that builds out new RF uplink equipment has almost all been laid off and many other things point to DTV satellites going away in the not too distant future.

Most people out here come up with predictions completely out of their butt where I'm getting information from current ATT/DirecTV employees. Different butts but probably more accurate.

ATT doesn’t need another sat for at least a decade So they should have no plans to launch one. If things change in 5 years they can launch another

 

[Claude Greiner]

T-Mobile and Sprint Merger Gets Official Approval From the FCC

I think with the sprint and T-Mobile merger getting approved, acquiring Directv is out of the question.

Charlie Just got into the wireless business, and will be tied up in this for years!

Even though Im against a Dish wireless company, it’s better than him being involved with Directv.

I’ll be dammed if I’m ever going to be told what to do by Dish ever again

 

[HoTat2]

ATT is a good 10 years to covering the US with enough 5G to do what you say. Hell they still can’t get 3G/LTE to a large portion of customers. ...

Wow, not even at 3G yet to a large number of customers?

You mean AT&T wireless is still offering only 2G+ speeds like GPRS and EDGE in places?



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[slice1900]

So will the HS-17 and the C61k be the last DTV boxes that will be made?

If they are the last, what difference does it make? What improvements could they make to that hardware? I still expect a newer 4K box since they'll need to support 4Kp120 eventually, but there's no point in doing newer HD clients. There also really isn't anything they can do to make the HS17 better (no, they will not add more tuners, it already has 16 hardware tuners, your complaint is how they are choosing to allocate them for transponder bonding)

 

[slice1900]

Wow, not even at 3G yet to a large number of customers?

You mean AT&T wireless is still offering only 2G+ speeds like GPRS and EDGE in places?

AT&T shut down their 2G network on Jan. 1 2017. They have been 3G and LTE everywhere since. If anyone is an AT&T customer on 2G, they must be roaming.

They have sent notices to commercial customers that they will shutting down their 3G network in February 2022 (but they will be shutting down some bands/locations sooner, like they did with 2G)

 

[JohnL]

Here is another reminder that Streaming TV will be problematic for years to come. Internet Providers will CONTINUE to use their Dominant Status as your Internet provider to steer you to Providers based on your internet connection and your connection speed.

AT&T will pay $60 million to compensate unlimited data customers that found their data speeds throttled without warning because AT&T deemed them ‘heavy users’ that were slowing down AT&T’s wireless network.

“AT&T baited subscribers with promises of unlimited data, trapped them in multi-year contracts with punishing termination fees, and then scammed them by choking off their access unless they moved to a more expensive plan,” claimed FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra. “The AT&T throttling scandal is an important case study into how dominant firms operating without meaningful competition can easily renege on their contractual obligations and cheat consumers who have almost no recourse.”

The $60 million in compensation is part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that accused the company of false and misleading advertising after marketing an unlimited data plan subject to severe speed reductions after as little as 2 GB of usage. AT&T also agreed to a permanent injunction forbidding the company from advertising unlimited data plans without clear disclosures that such plans were subject to speed throttling. AT&T will have to prominently disclose such limitations in the future and not in the fine print.

 

[Juan]

In corn fields and wilderness

Wow, not even at 3G yet to a large number of customers?

You mean AT&T wireless is still offering only 2G+ speeds like GPRS and EDGE in places?



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[JSheridan]

i think that the future of DirecTV could be either merge with Dish, merge with Orby or merge with Comcast becoming DirecTV by Xfinity to bring Xfinity TV to rural America without the investment of installing cable and fiber optic cables. but merge with Dish might be the best option, but it may leave with DirecTV losing their RSNs and sports lovers options if cheapo Charlie takes over as seen with Dish's feud with Sinclair Broadcasting Group, NB universal, and AT&T's WarnerMedia.

Merge with Orby?

Orby is pretty much a joke. They probably have a few thousand subs at most and likely will never get much bigger even if they survive.

 

[ncted]

https://www.multichannel.com/news/pay-tv-down-to-75-percent-of-us-homes

^^That this erosion is actually causing competition for customers is encouraging, but there are going to be casualties along the way.