AT&T disappointed with offers for struggling DirecTV

Had a feeling this was coming:


If there is a potential bright spot, 3 million losses would be ~750k per quarter, but the losses in Q4 2020 were only 617k, below that pace. It may be a sign that losses are slowing and they are nearing a bottom. Or, it could just be a sign that people are waiting until after football season to drop them.

I’m sure there has to be a minimum number of subscribers for the business to be profitable. I’d also guess there is a number of people that prefer/require DirecTV for service, regardless of price. I’m just wondering which number is lower.


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If they were smart, and we all know the answer to that, they'd dump it at whatever they could get and write off the loss instead of eating a progressive loss every quarter without relief. This is like trying to sell the Titanic after it's hit the iceberg and you're trying to squeeze a bidder for more money as the business value continues to drop? :coco
 
So that mean no longer directv will become new company still no more Satellite?? I’m wonder


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I was just referring to the fact that they had to recognize the loss of value of the DirecTV assets. That goodwill is going to drag down earnings a bit until they can get rid of it. It doesn't make any difference with respect cash flow, but it looks bad on paper. Essentially they are finally admitting to the reality of it.
 
If there is a potential bright spot, 3 million losses would be ~750k per quarter, but the losses in Q4 2020 were only 617k, below that pace. It may be a sign that losses are slowing and they are nearing a bottom. Or, it could just be a sign that people are waiting until after football season to drop them.

I’m sure there has to be a minimum number of subscribers for the business to be profitable. I’d also guess there is a number of people that prefer/require DirecTV for service, regardless of price. I’m just wondering which number is lower.


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Dish lost about 50% of their subs and is very profitable
 
Found a better way...make people work from home
I bet AT&T is wishing they had been more aggressive with their fiber rollout right about now. They had essentially stopped, but they would have had even bigger subscriber gains if they had continued. Now they think it is a good idea again, all of the sudden. Ditto for Verizon. I can see not thinking it is worth hooking up rural customers, although power co-ops in NC don't seem to have any problem making money doing that, but there are plenty of rich neighborhoods which they bypassed for no discernible reason. The writing was on the wall 15 years ago that FTTH was the way to go in the long run.
 
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I bet AT&T is wishing they had been more aggressive with their fiber rollout right about now. They had essentially stopped, but they would have had even bigger subscriber gains if they had continued. Now they think it is a good idea again, all of the sudden. Ditto for Verizon. I can see not thinking it is worth hooking up rural customers, although power co-ops in NC don't seem to have any problem making money doing that, but there are plenty of rich neighborhoods which they bypassed for no discernible reason. The writing was on the wall 15 years ago that FTTH was the way to go in the long run.
The government should of stepped in and helped....Sure is funny how many have no clue that the government put electricity, phone lines, and roads across our country....Everyone knew the computers and internet were the future!
 
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Actually, I recall when I was working at Nortel in 1999, product managers working on convincing the higher-ups that they needed to develop "fiber-to-the-curb" products to be competitive in the future. Clearly, they should have listened, and then Nortel might still be around...well, probably not, but still.
 
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I bet AT&T is wishing they had been more aggressive with their fiber rollout right about now. They had essentially stopped, but they would have had even bigger subscriber gains if they had continued. Now they think it is a good idea again, all of the sudden. Ditto for Verizon. I can see not thinking it is worth hooking up rural customers, although power co-ops in NC don't seem to have any problem making money doing that, but there are plenty of rich neighborhoods which they bypassed for no discernible reason. The writing was on the wall 15 years ago that FTTH was the way to go in the long run.
Verizon never stopped...just quit adding new cities...the new big thing is ultra wideband 5g...telephone pole antennas..fiber too expensive
 
Verizon never stopped...just quit adding new cities...the new big thing is ultra wideband 5g...telephone pole antennas..fiber too expensive
They stopped in a lot of places, at least unless the local governments made them meet contractual agreements. My niece just bought a house in Henrico, VA, and half her neighborhood has FiOS while the other half does not. It has negatively affected property values in the parts that don't have it. The HOA is trying to get the county to make Verizon finish the job (which they submitted plans to do originally), but they are being stonewalled and told Verizon isn't running any new fiber in that market.

Given that they have to run fiber backhaul for mmW, aka ultra wideband 5g, aka ultra short-distance, I don't see how it is significantly less expensive. They have to put up those antennas every few hundred feet.

If I were AT&T and Verizon, I'd be kicking myself for not rolling out more FTTH. People are clamoring for it and are willing to pay. Demand for it is affecting where people live.
 
Yet, I must admit, inertia is a terrible thing. Few of us in my neighborhood signed up for FiOS. Most stayed with the existing coax service from (shudder) Cox.
 
Yet, I must admit, inertia is a terrible thing. Few of us in my neighborhood signed up for FiOS. Most stayed with the existing coax service from (shudder) Cox.
AT&T Fiber's penetration in my neighborhood was about 75% before the pandemic. After some serious issues with Spectrum in April/May 2020, that is more like 90%+. Now Spectrum is finally offering deals on their upper tiers. I could get 400/20 for $50/month for 2 years, if I was willing to change to Spectrum. I'd rather pay $70/month for symmetrical gigabit that includes HBOmax. I don't love the AT&T "router," but other than that, the service has been great compared to when we had Spectrum before.
 
How many times and how much money has these companies received GOV money to extend broadband ? Been lots of $$$ given away and few results...GOV just gives them more and more
 
The money is given to benefit low-income and rural customers. That is Congress' justification anyway. The actual money comes from a tax on your bill.
 
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AT&T Fiber's penetration in my neighborhood was about 75% before the pandemic. After some serious issues with Spectrum in April/May 2020, that is more like 90%+. Now Spectrum is finally offering deals on their upper tiers. I could get 400/20 for $50/month for 2 years, if I was willing to change to Spectrum. I'd rather pay $70/month for symmetrical gigabit that includes HBOmax. I don't love the AT&T "router," but other than that, the service has been great compared to when we had Spectrum before.

Yeah, AT&T Fiber never completely stopped expanding but they did slow down quite a bit in 2020, I think. They'd said from that point forward that they would be much more selective about where to rollout. But then they just announced that they plan to put their foot on the gas again in 2021 and expand to at least another 2 million homes.

I switched from Comcast to AT&T Fiber (via a reseller, Toast.net) back in Sept. I got lucky and got their latest wifi 6 gateway and love it. It's a great service, more reliable than anything I've had before (well, outside of the Christmas outage due to the bombing here in Nashville by the AT&T building downtown). I pay a flat $45/mo for standalone 60/60 service with no data cap. The price should never increase; Toast.net doesn't do promo rates and my plan is grandfathered and no longer sold.

I don't know if I'll ever leave the service as long as I continue to live in this house because I doubt I'll ever see another ISP available here that's as good for the same or less money.
 
Yeah, AT&T Fiber never completely stopped expanding but they did slow down quite a bit in 2020, I think. They'd said from that point forward that they would be much more selective about where to rollout. But then they just announced that they plan to put their foot on the gas again in 2021 and expand to at least another 2 million homes.

I switched from Comcast to AT&T Fiber (via a reseller, Toast.net) back in Sept. I got lucky and got their latest wifi 6 gateway and love it. It's a great service, more reliable than anything I've had before (well, outside of the Christmas outage due to the bombing here in Nashville by the AT&T building downtown). I pay a flat $45/mo for standalone 60/60 service with no data cap. The price should never increase; Toast.net doesn't do promo rates and my plan is grandfathered and no longer sold.

I don't know if I'll ever leave the service as long as I continue to live in this house because I doubt I'll ever see another ISP available here that's as good for the same or less money.
I wish we had Fiber here, and at those prices to boot ...

I get 25 mg (250 gb data) for $50, thru the local Cable company ... no other realistic options that I am aware of.
 
I wish we had Fiber here, and at those prices to boot ...

I get 25 mg (250 gb data) for $50, thru the local Cable company ... no other realistic options that I am aware of.
$50/mo for what you're getting isn't good but it's hard to get broadband (anything 25 Mbps or faster) at a regular ongoing price for much less. Lots of places offer faster service with higher data caps (or no cap at all) for that amount but the starter tier is usually pretty close to $50. My parents have 25 Mbps service with Comcast. They use their own modem and router and the regular price is now $53/mo, although it comes down to $43/mo with paperless autopay.

If your local electric utility is a co-op, you should ask them about rolling out fiber in your area. But it might be a tough sell since you already are wired for cable. Other than that, maybe T-Mobile, Verizon or AT&T will offer 5G/4G home broadband in your area before long. You almost certainly wouldn't spend any less but you might get faster speeds and/or unlimited data. Starlink satellite internet will be expanding more this year too but it looks like it may cost $100/mo, although with speeds over 100 Mbps.
 
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