AT&T phasing out STB and Satellites by 2020?

[nvguy38]

According to this article, they plan on using streaming services as the primary TV platform by 2020. Interesting read just out today:

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/b...meline-to-phase-out.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoo

 

[ejb1980]

Dumb.

 

[Juan]

Actually really good for the majority that has no los..opens up the season ticket to the multitudes

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[alnielsen]

Directv has hundreds of million dollars invested in the satellite infrastructure. It may exist along side a streaming service, but it isn't going away for at least another 20 years. There are 3 brand new satellites up there.

 

[CSM]

Didn't they buy DTV so they can get UVerseTV off of their lines and free up bandwidth? DTV Now would just add to the bandwidth again if it was their primary TV services. Plus I think I read that it also has HD streams like UVerseTV and the current limit will be two when DTV Now launches. Also what would the HD quality be? I read that the PlayStation Vue is 720p. I think using DTV Now for rain/snow fade backup would be cool.

 

[goaliebob99]

Directv has hundreds of million dollars invested in the satellite infrastructure. It may exist along side a streaming service, but it isn't going away for at least another 20 years. There are 3 brand new satellites up there.

They also have T15 on order going to 101 I believe.

 

[goaliebob99]

According to this article, they plan on using streaming services as the primary TV platform by 2020. Interesting read just out today:

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/b...meline-to-phase-out.html?ana=yahoo&yptr=yahoo

I read the article that this one is based off of and it's full of misinformation.

The largest U.S. pay-TV provider has been working for more than a year to build a video-delivery system that can carry multiple live feeds to broadband-connected homes, said the people. Such a platform would eliminate the need for a cable hookup or satellite dish in five years or less, the people said.

This is phoo phoo. Whoever said that is talking out of their rear ends especially about the five years or less part eliminating the need for a dish. ATT has made it very clear that DirecTV is going to be the preferred platform. Anyone, who can't get satellite will then get pushed onto the IP part of it. The only exception that I am aware of is those who are on Gigapower will have the option of doing either or. This is strictly a fluff piece.

Satellite remains the only viable option to push video to the masses and with reverse band 4k will be a big part of it. The author also forgets the areas that ATT serves that ATT DOES NOT have a presence in, like the West Coast. Unless ATT starts a massive gigablast deployment to places like Tucson, Pheonix, Las Vegas, Denver, and other areas they DO NOT serve, going IP only will not happen for a long time. Why?

Cox will cap the hell out of it. Century Link isnt plausible as they can't provide 1.5 meg DSL to many areas and their backend network can't even support Netflix at anything above 480P during peak hours. Satellite is not going away any time soon.

 

[cpalmer2k]

I'm not buying this either... they might be able to transition the cord cutter/younger viewers over to some degree, but I don't see such a huge changeover in infrastructure taking place in such a short time period. In the area where I live a large majority of people still can't get AT&T's basic 7mb DSL service much less cable or fiber internet. It just isn't practical and cell carriers are moving away from unlimited data not towards it.

 

[keenan]

They could use their fixed LTE product for rural delivery and the data the streaming service uses would be zero rated. This sounds a lot like a net neutrality test to see if the FCC will raise a stink or not.

 

[Drucifer]

Jesus, didn't someone tell 'em we are a third world nation when it comes to the Internet.

 

[Tampa8]

People actually get paid to come up with articles like this.

 

[Juan]

They are planning on using 5g cellular to the home..this would be a game changer if it actually works..waaay to early to tell

 

[CSM]

They are planning on using 5g cellular to the home..this would be a game changer if it actually works..waaay to early to tell

Yeh, I just looked up info on 5g that looks amazing 1 gbps downloads and 4k. If they had a Cloud DVR/Gateway with built in 5g in the home.

 

[DishSubLA]

People actually get paid to come up with articles like this.

Yeah this article is just AT&T storytelling to its investors. This is all about keeping Wall Street happy in regards to AT&T's future. It matters not if it's true only how it affects how investors think today not five years from now when they can change their story.

However Charlie Ergen himself did state in the past conference call " if I were building dish today I would not be investing in satellites" and he's right. Sony did not launch a fleet of satellites for its TV service and no one will be. However DirecTV and dish are stuck with their legacy. However considering that dish and, I believe, DirecTV, as well, are leasing many of the slots they occupied today it seems logical that in the long run they will fall back on the primary slots that they own because they won't need all that capacity with future innovations. In the short run I could see set-top boxes that seamlessly provide both satellite and Internet access for programming. We often forget about the capacity of the backbone and who exactly is going to pay for all these tens if not hundreds of millions of's added streams even with future innovations. We could see a hybrid service where dish or DirecTV have 4K programming coming from satellites which can be more reliable than the Internet while other programming say HD 720 P would use the Internet to deliver to the home. We really don't know exactly what's going to happen but yes there will probably be far less reliance on the satellite fleet and more reliance on the Internet for delivery of programming because it does reduce costs. Oh and I personally believe that all of dish's international programming will eventually be via Internet and connected device only such as the sling international app. So even less need for satellites. However as others have stated this is a long way out. It would be nice if DirecTV and dish could figure out a way to use satellite advantages in their future programming delivery infrastructure.

 

[keenan]

Yeah this article is just AT&T storytelling to its investors. This is all about keeping Wall Street happy in regards to AT&T's future. It matters not if it's true only how it affects how investors think today not five years from now when they can change their story.

Yes, AT&T is infamous for serving of incredible amounts of BS in their press releases, much of the stuff they tout about never comes to fruition.

 

[Pepper]

Yes, AT&T is infamous for serving of incredible amounts of BS in their press releases, much of the stuff they tout about never comes to fruition.

They are a multinational technology corporation. That's to be expected.

 

[Z_finigan]

They would want this, but we the customers lose. Why. you have to use broad band to us them. guess what now you pay extra for that. and alot of cable providers are starting to put data limits. So work it all out. so we pay and they save millions. imagine that and everyone one else has data limits . and that is everyone. AT&T check it out. and the date you would need is about 25ms. for each box . so if you have 4 tv and 4 movies going at a time you could use 8 gigs in 2 hours. do the math.. lots of money real fast... Enjoy

 

[navychop]

It'll be five years at least before ATT will have any idea what their future will be. They took one heck of a gamble.

I suspect satellite is not nearly dead. Tech improvements will continue. And MEO sats may become viable. Avoiding ISP throttles will be ever more important.

 

[Juan]

Yes, AT&T is infamous for serving of incredible amounts of BS in their press releases, much of the stuff they tout about never comes to fruition.

Kinda like cellphones and video calls....ohh wait

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[keenan]

Kinda like cellphones and video calls....ohh wait

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And that relates to this how?