Maybe Stephenson's latest comments will put their tired and stupid rumor to rest:
Stephenson said there's a little bit more of promotional pricing "cleanup" that will run into the fourth quarter but that video subscriber losses will significantly improve in the fourth quarter and get better in 2020.
He said that 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.
Stephenson said that AT&T TV will begin to attract the lion's share of gross subscriber adds over the next couple of years.
"That cannibalizes satellite. It replaces satellite. But we actually like if gross adds are coming on that product," he said because AT&T TV has a lower cost point and allows the company to meet a much different price point in the market.
Which is exactly what I've been saying all along. Expecting/encouraging new customer adds to be mostly on streaming (and possibly making it more expensive to choose satellite by making customers pay for install) doesn't mean satellite will go away in a few years like some people here keep wanting to push.