AT&T Plans to Charge $50 to $60 a Month For DIRECTV NOW

[Bruce]

Today AT&T’s chief Randall Stephenson opened up more about the future of DIRECTV NOW and the new DIRECTV streaming version launching in 2019. Part of that talk revolved around plans to charge $50 to $60 a month for DIRECTV NOW after thinning it out.

During a talk at UBS Global Media and Communications Conference Stephens opened up about the future of DIRECTV NOW. According to Stephenson, AT&T AT&T plans to thin out content to channels that are “really relevant to customers” in an effort to keep the price take in the $50 to $60 range.

So raise the price, lose some channels, do not address the buffering and outage problems, 100hr DVR still not ready yet, glad I have Vue.

AT&T Plans to Charge $50 to $60 a Month For DIRECTV NOW - Cord Cutters News

 

[comfortably_numb]

Many forum members have speculated that streaming service packages would eventually start to rise in order to match the price points of current pay TV offerings. If Directv is phasing out satellite service and traditional satellite tv packages, then they will try to make up that revenue somewhere.

Glad I'm grandfathered in with Youtube TV for $35 at work, and I'm clinging to my Dish Welcome Pack at home.

 

[Bruce]

Many forum members have speculated that streaming service packages would eventually start to rise in order to match the price points of current pay TV offerings. If Directv is phasing out satellite service and traditional satellite tv packages, then they will try to make up that revenue somewhere.

It is a very misleading point they have, yes Vue (Core) went up for us $5 this year, cable/Sat also went up at least that much this year, same last year and I would assume the same next year.

The part that forum members never talk about when they compare OTT vs Traditional Service is we do not have to pay the extras they do, locals, local sports, DVR, box rentals, protection plans, etc.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have to wonder if the AT&T Manage is really trying to kill the company? First announcing the phase out of DIRECTV Satellite TV and now this...

I don't get it.

 

[comfortably_numb]

we do not have to pay the extras they do, locals, local sports, DVR, box rentals, protection plans, etc.

Yet.

 

[comfortably_numb]

I don't get it.

My hypothesis is that ATT management sees satellite infrastructure as overhead that can be cut. They'll try to wrap the traditional pay-tv model around the streaming service and make that their only delivery method.

I am visualizing a group of ATT executives sitting in a boardroom inside a Dallas skyscraper. The conversation goes something like this: "Hey we found a way to cut costs and at the same time increase revenue! All we have to do is announce we're discontinuing satellite service in the near future, freeze all production and launches, then switch all our existing OTT customers to the old Directv pricing structure. We'll tell our satellite customers they're getting a new box, then quietly move them to OTT, too. We won't even have to roll a truck since they can hook it up themselves. They'll keep paying "receiver fees" to use our boxes (even though they don't really need them but are too dumb to know). The customers who don't have broadband? Well, we don't care about them anyway!!! Good riddance!"

Then they all share a big laugh and go out to lunch to celebrate.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

You forgot to mention they go to lunch with big bonus checks in hand.

 

[Tampa8]

Shocked, shocked I tell you...... Not.

If anyone is shocked you haven't read the wisdom extolled at Satelliteguys by several posters way back when streaming was first deemed the next great thing.

I think At&t has view of the future and it's few carriers, few providers, less cost to them more cost to you.

 

[comfortably_numb]

If anyone is shocked you haven't read the wisdom extolled at Satelliteguys by several posters way back when streaming was first deemed the next great thing.

Yep. Everything seems to be proceeding according to previous predictions. Corporations exist to make money. They don't care about providing cheap TV packages. ATT is referred to as the "Death Star" for a reason. They are thrilled "to death" to usher in the end of satellite TV and mold DirectvNOW into their primary video delivery vehicle. Less overhead, less labor, and the traditional pay-TV package model lives on.

Long live Dish Network!

 

[navychop]

“We’re the Telephone Company. We don’t HAVE to care!”


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[comfortably_numb]

“We’re the Telephone Company. We don’t HAVE to care!”


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[harshness]

The part that forum members never talk about when they compare OTT vs Traditional Service is we do not have to pay the extras they do, locals, local sports, DVR, box rentals, protection plans, etc.

This is just the first volley in the battle to bring OTT somewhere in the same region as profitable. There will be other weapons brought to bear including piecemeal charges for specific aspects of the service. These will ultimately include:

1. varying levels of DVR service
2. local channel and RSN surcharges
   
3. Osprey rental fees
4. more junk snail mail and e-mails than anyone can endure replete with offers for other AT&T services as well as those of their "partners".

They may even slip in some form of insurance plan (for priority, American speaking technical support and perhaps streaming box replacement. You probably already assumed that they would offer advanced installation options for those that aren't plugging directly into a TV.

 

[Bruce]

This is just the first volley in the battle to bring OTT somewhere in the same region as profitable. There will be other weapons brought to bear including piecemeal charges for specific aspects of the service. These will ultimately include:

1. varying levels of DVR service
2. local channel and RSN surcharges
   
3. Osprey rental fees
4. more junk snail mail and e-mails than anyone can endure replete with offers for other AT&T services as well as those of their "partners".

They may even slip in some form of insurance plan (for priority, American speaking technical support and perhaps streaming box replacement. You probably already assumed that they would offer advanced installation options for those that aren't plugging directly into a TV.

1. varying levels of DVR service
2. local channel and RSN surcharges

Then I leave the second it happens, I do not need live TV ( expect for news but I can get that now with CBS and ABC on the Roku), the only reason I still have it is because of my wife but even she is finally understanding the vast majority of what we watch is via Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and Vudu, we get much more value out of those then Live TV, we can wait until a series( say the Walking Dead for example) is on Netflix ( or the others) 7 days ( CW shows) to 6 months after they air the season finale.

For example, we binge watched the last season of the Americans which was on Prime about 3 months after the finale on FX.

TV Providers do not understand that most people leaving Traditional Service ( average of 13,000 a day this year per Cord Cutters News) are not going to services like DNow, they are using things like Netflix instead.

3.Osprey rental fees

Again if a service demands I have to use and pay for their box is a service I will not use.

4.more junk snail mail and e-mails than anyone can endure replete with offers for other AT&T services as well as those of their "partners".

I left Comcast Video 2 years ago, DirecTV 6 years ago, Dish 8 years ago and still get tons from each of them ( snail and email), never have received anything from Sony except my monthly newsletter (email) since I belong to plus.

 

[Ronnie-]

No doubt prices will rise in these services, and some already offer varying fees for features, the reason a lot of people are leaving traditional pay tv is not the price of the programming as much as it is all the add on fees.

I would hope the providers have learned that lesson, but if those do come, I’ll again evaluate my options as I did when I left sat. And that includes dropping it all and not having live tv.

 

[DetFan]

Yea I Picked a great time this last summer to sign up


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[Zookster]

Just because Cord Cutters News publishes a poorly written article that AT&T plans to raise DirecTV Now prices at an indefinite point in the future (not a surprise) doesn't mean the sky is suddenly falling on OTT live services. There is still a LONG WAY to go to catch up to cable TV pricing (which continues to rise at a comparable rate) when you factor in $10+ per month per addl. room on top of everything else that traditional services charge.

 

[harshness]

Rebloggers (CCN, Fierce Cable, Swanni) will be the death of what we know as "news" replacing it with their rather loose interpretations of press releases and real news agency articles.

 

[harshness]

Just because Cord Cutters News publishes a poorly written article that AT&T plans to raise DirecTV Now prices at an indefinite point in the future (not a surprise) doesn't mean the sky is suddenly falling on OTT live services.

It doesn't mean that the sky is falling, just that it will cost more and more to fly. Often involving two or more providers, perhaps the bigger question with OTT is whether the media price or the medium price (or neither) will remain stable.

 

[mikew]

Not sure why customers of AT&T haven't grown tired enough of this company to drop them. The only way that this madness ends is with the mass exodus of customers. When they acquired DirecTV, i promptly dropped them as my cell carrier and dropped ATT as my TV provider. The way I see it, all those restrictions they placed on data usage and excessive costs helped them build the cash pile they needed to begin the acquisitions. They then take those acquisitions, ruin them, and squeeze every nickel they can out of their customers. I look forward to the day they are leveraged to the hilt and can't find their way out.

 

[ewindowman]

It’s kind of funny that people actually thought that cutting the cord was going to save them so much money. Maybe at first you will save some but the big corporations aren’t going to let you save for long.


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