AT&T Jan 30 8k

[nelson61]

At December 31, 2018, Entertainment revenue connections included:
? Approximately 24.5 million video connections (including 1.6 million DIRECTV NOW subscribers) at December 31, 2018 compared to 25.2 million at December 31, 2017. During the fourth quarter of 2018, including the impact of losses of 267,000 from DIRECTV NOW, total video subscribers decreased 658,000. DIRECTV NOW net adds included approximately 65,000 on free or substantially free trials.
? Approximately 14.4 million broadband connections at December 31, 2018 compared to 14.4 million at December 31, 2017. During the fourth quarter, we added 6,000 IP broadband subscribers, for a total of 13.7 million at December 31, 2018. Total broadband subscribers decreased 32,000 in the quarter.
? Approximately 8.5 million wired voice connections at December 31, 2018 compared to 10.0 million at December 31, 2017. Voice connections include switched access lines and VoIP connections.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Ouch didn't expect to see Directv Now bleeding so much already!

 

[nelson61]

It lost 403,000 satellite TV subscribers, more than the estimate of 328,000 customers who left, according to research firm FactSet. AT&T also shed 267,000 DirecTV Now customers.

AT&T misses revenue estimates on slower wireless customer growth | Reuters

 

[nelson61]

We are living through and watching one of those once in a generation or two seismic events when there is a major shift in people's habit's.

The last one was the smart phone.

 

[RandallA]

Ouch didn't expect to see Directv Now bleeding so much already!

It was expected. They stopped giving promotions to new subscribers and they knew they were going to lose subscribers. I actually thought it would be higher.

 

[nelson61]

I figure they would need to write down their Directv investment 1 billion dollars per year just to account for the rate they are losing subscribers.

 

[ncted]

I figure they would need to write down their Directv investment 1 billion dollars per year just to account for the rate they are losing subscribers.

DirecTV definitely looks like an impaired asset at this point.

 

[ncted]

We are living through and watching one of those once in a generation or two seismic events when there is a major shift in people's habit's.

The last one was the smart phone.

It seems to be all part of how the Internet is completely changing the world. Also, the title of this thread totally made me think DirecTV was getting an 8K Channel.

 

[nelson61]

It seems to be all part of how the Internet is completely changing the world. Also, the title of this thread totally made me think DirecTV was getting an 8K Channel.

8K https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/732717/000073271719000005/q4earnings8k_801.htm

 

[ncted]

8K https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/732717/000073271719000005/q4earnings8k_801.htm

Yeah, I know. Just the first thing that went through my head.

 

[nelson61]

Their problem is -. It appears their customers are no longer "sticky" after they drop satellite.

Once they have internet piped in, their friends at coffee break tell them about sling ot roku or YouTube TV or whatever.

The cost and ease of changing to or from those services is zip .
So they bounce around when they see something they might like better than Now.

It is a blood war and anyone's guess which will survive.

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[nelson61]

The subscriber history

 

[nelson61]

The subscriber numbers

Sent from my SM-G955U1 using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[Claude Greiner]

The problem with Directv now is that they ended the 3 month for $10 offer.

You get a whole bunch of customers riding the wave and all your doing is churning through new customers as the free trial ends.

When they where heavily pushing it, all day we would get calls about getting Directv for $10.

The internet is a very serious threat to the entire pay Tv industry. The problem is 3 fold.

#1 we got the pirate services running on android boxes with illegal software. Dish has actually got the right approach to this by shutting then down by filing lawsuits.

#2 The content providers are to blame for making their content available online.

#3 Directv and especially Dish are to blame here for offering the content online. Of all companies who is NOT a traditional internet service provider, should not be offering content online.

The writing is on the wall. If traditional pay tv is going to survive, the major pay Tv providers that also provide internet (AT&T, Spectrum, Comcast) need to get together and adjust their internet packages to address streaming video.

The fact of the matter is the internet service providers are not going away, but once the cheap unlimited internet goes away and the price is adjusted to away with any savings from streaming then people won’t mind going back to traditional pay Tv.

There is going to be a major correction to the market soon.

I for one are sick of seeing larger and larger discounts for new customers to hide the yearly price increases. The sports channels has really put the pricing out of hand.

Another interesting thing is that the lack of traditional pay Tv is going to kill the outrageous salaries for professional athletes.

If people can save $10-$15 getting rid of ESPN and their regional sports network they will drop it in a heartbeat

 

[Joe h]

Their wireless service has been hemorrhaging subscribers. Directv has been hemorrhaging subscribers. They lost 2 million hbo subscribers due to a failed attempt at strong arming dish. TNT’s nba ratings have fallen over 20%. And directvnow has lost 14% of their subscribers. Might be time to pressure Stephenson to step down, literally everything AT&T has touched in the last couple years is experiencing negative growth.

 

[Juan]

The problem with Directv now is that they ended the 3 month for $10 offer.

You get a whole bunch of customers riding the wave and all your doing is churning through new customers as the free trial ends.

When they where heavily pushing it, all day we would get calls about getting Directv for $10.

The internet is a very serious threat to the entire pay Tv industry. The problem is 3 fold.

#1 we got the pirate services running on android boxes with illegal software. Dish has actually got the right approach to this by shutting then down by filing lawsuits.

#2 The content providers are to blame for making their content available online.

#3 Directv and especially Dish are to blame here for offering the content online. Of all companies who is NOT a traditional internet service provider, should not be offering content online.

The writing is on the wall. If traditional pay tv is going to survive, the major pay Tv providers that also provide internet (AT&T, Spectrum, Comcast) need to get together and adjust their internet packages to address streaming video.

The fact of the matter is the internet service providers are not going away, but once the cheap unlimited internet goes away and the price is adjusted to away with any savings from streaming then people won’t mind going back to traditional pay Tv.

There is going to be a major correction to the market soon.

I for one are sick of seeing larger and larger discounts for new customers to hide the yearly price increases. The sports channels has really put the pricing out of hand.

Another interesting thing is that the lack of traditional pay Tv is going to kill the outrageous salaries for professional athletes.

If people can save $10-$15 getting rid of ESPN and their regional sports network they will drop it in a heartbeat

Sorry..but much like the buggy whip..traditional pay tv time has passed

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[lparsons21]

Sorry..but much like the buggy whip..traditional pay tv time has passed

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

I think you are sounding the death knell of traditional pay TV a bit early. Certainly there will be some changes coming but there are still too many existing and potential customers that don't have access to high speed internet sufficient to switch to all streaming of one sort or another. Add in that it is a fact of life that streaming services only save you money when you are willing to accept quite a bit less than what Cable/Sat offers and then add in the inconvenience of the streaming services, each with their own unique UI and pretty slipshod DVR functionality.
Let me give an example. In order to get the channels I want streaming only I would need to subscribe to more than one streaming service, figure that as $40 for one, $25 for the other, total $65. Add in $80-100 for internet service that would allow me to go full time streaming what with bandwidth caps and all. So total with no premium channels at all would be about $145. Add in the 4 Premium channels for $50-$60 depending on which way you subscribe to them and the total is now $195.
I am on Mediacom cable and get all of that including a bump in internet speed/bandwidth for $172, would be $162 if I didn't bump the internet up a bit. I get more channels than streaming offers and definitely more sports.

 

[Juan]

I think you are sounding the death knell of traditional pay TV a bit early. Certainly there will be some changes coming but there are still too many existing and potential customers that don't have access to high speed internet sufficient to switch to all streaming of one sort or another. Add in that it is a fact of life that streaming services only save you money when you are willing to accept quite a bit less than what Cable/Sat offers and then add in the inconvenience of the streaming services, each with their own unique UI and pretty slipshod DVR functionality.
Let me give an example. In order to get the channels I want streaming only I would need to subscribe to more than one streaming service, figure that as $40 for one, $25 for the other, total $65. Add in $80-100 for internet service that would allow me to go full time streaming what with bandwidth caps and all. So total with no premium channels at all would be about $145. Add in the 4 Premium channels for $50-$60 depending on which way you subscribe to them and the total is now $195.
I am on Mediacom cable and get all of that including a bump in internet speed/bandwidth for $172, would be $162 if I didn't bump the internet up a bit. I get more channels than streaming offers and definitely more sports.

The audience for pay tv will be around a long time...but much like free broadcast tv and radio it has peaked and is in decline

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[lparsons21]

The audience for pay tv will be around a long time...but much like free broadcast tv and radio it has peaked and is in decline

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

No doubt, things change and we will see more decline in traditional pay TV, but it won't die off any time soon. Personally I think the cost of streaming services is underpriced to give it a kick start and when the dust settles the only savings will come from not having equipment and outlet fees. For many that won't be a huge amount.
A little off topic, but I think the time is ripe for Tivo to step up their game and offer a box with apps for at least some of the streaming multi-channel services. Incorporate unified search as they do with Netflix, Amazon and Hulu now and have OTA capability. They already have an OTA version that has some streaming apps on it, just add the multi-channel apps to it and then later incorporate unified search if it is possible.

 

[ncted]

The sports channels has really put the pricing out of hand.

Another interesting thing is that the lack of traditional pay Tv is going to kill the outrageous salaries for professional athletes.

If people can save $10-$15 getting rid of ESPN and their regional sports network they will drop it in a heartbeat

This