I don't have an answer for that but DTV has stated they will feed all customers via broadband. If there is no broadband solution for all customers by the time they start shutting down satellites, it looks like they may have to give up some customers. As the shutdown time gets closer we will hopefully have real info on that.
Directv 16 Launch Schedule
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As previously indicated by myself and others. It isn’t going to happen. I am sorry your friends are being replaced at the uplink centers with outsourced and cheaper labor. But Sat service isn’t going anywhere for at least another decade
And they change thier minds from time to time as well, we really have No idea what they will do 4-5 or 10 years from now ....
The D* Sats will still be up there and functional, why would they shut them down, they are getting max money from those still using Sat service.
I have seen them come into the office and say something is going to happen next week and then get changed and never heard about after ...
For all we know att could sell the business before then.
Again, is this your guess of what's going to happen or facts backed up by something? If you can't back it up with a reputable source of info then its hearsay.
Neither AirGig nor fixed 5G is likely to blanket the country within five years. Nor will LEO or MEO based Internet likely to be the answer at that time. And people do not make such changes without incentive. Non ATT Internet users will likely still have caps to deal with.
It ain’t adding up.
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It ain’t adding up.
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Maybe you are both correct. At&t had lots of satellite stuff predeal and could be consolidating staff to cut overhead.
And maybe, they plan to sell off the DirecTV satellite business in 4-5 years after they have milked off the broadband customers.
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I have to say, it's very entertaining reading this thread, watching folks who have never worked for DTV and who have no connections to key employees there try to dispute statements from someone who apparently has, ha!
Yes, of course, all long-range plans are subject to change. So it's quite possible that, come 2021, AT&T is no longer saying that US satellite uplinks will cease in 2023 or 2024. Maybe that timeframe gets pushed back for whatever reasons. And it's possible that AT&T's long-range plan isn't to simply shut down DTV satellite service in 2023-24 but rather to try to sell it off to another operator or otherwise liquidate whatever remaining value those assets have. But, assuming that Inclined Orbit is telling the truth about his recent conversations with current DTV employees (and has also been truthful about having even worked there in the past himself), then it does look like AT&T currently plans to be out of the US satellite-based MVPD business in five years, one way or another.
And frankly, everything I read coming out of AT&T leadership indicates to me that they understand that satellite MVPD service is in irreversible decline, something to be milked for as much cash as possible now before getting rid of it. And they also understand that the future lies not in the traditional linear channel cable bundle (i.e. the MVPD model) but rather in large direct-to-consumer streaming services in which entertainment content is delivered on-demand (with news and sports being pretty much the only live content). Spend a bit of time reading the restructuring that's happening today at WarnerMedia ahead of the forthcoming launch of their SVOD competitor that will go up against Netflix. THAT'S where AT&T ultimately sees their future in the TV business, not in being a reseller of other companies' linear cable channels, regardless of whether those channels are delivered by satellite, or managed IP (Uverse TV), or OTT (DirecTV Now).
Oh, I just saw this article a moment ago in which T-Mobile states that, if their merger with Sprint goes through, they project that their high-speed wireless network will reach 96% of rural Americans by 2024. Between those efforts, plus perhaps AT&T AirGig, plus low-earth orbit satellite internet services, it's certainly possible that by 2024 there will be very, very few Americans who would need to rely on either DISH or DTV satellite for their video entertainment. (BTW, OneWeb just launched their first six satellites last week and plans to offer full global coverage with internet service at peak speeds of 500 Mbps by 2021.)
Entertaining to some, but I think its sad that when faced with facts, some people just can't accept the truth. Minutes ago I just finished another conversation with yet another person at a major ATT/Directv broadcast facility who is in charge of keeping uplinks on the air and they reinforced the fact that Directv intends to cut satellite services in the 4-5yr time frame. This came again from a person who's finger is literally on the uplink equipment for signals you are watching at this moment. They have been instructed to learn other tasks in preparation for their job changing in the future when there are no satellite uplinks for them to work on.
They also relayed to me other information on how ATT wants to make some operating changes to their uplink equipment in the interim to save money that was very disturbing to me which I won't post. This is two Directv employees working at broadcast centers I've discuss this with in the last few days, not counting the dozens over the last year who have all told me the same thing.
I will agree that a companies plans can change and go different directions based on missed milestones, etc, and that could certainly delay the enviable. But right now ATT/Directvs plans are to deliver their service via broadband and stop satellite transmissions in 4 to 5yrs. If you must state otherwise please let us know if that's simply your personal opinion or if you have some inside info to back it up. And if everyone wants me to stop posting inside information just let me know and I'll go away.
They also relayed to me other information on how ATT wants to make some operating changes to their uplink equipment in the interim to save money that was very disturbing to me which I won't post. This is two Directv employees working at broadcast centers I've discuss this with in the last few days, not counting the dozens over the last year who have all told me the same thing.
I will agree that a companies plans can change and go different directions based on missed milestones, etc, and that could certainly delay the enviable. But right now ATT/Directvs plans are to deliver their service via broadband and stop satellite transmissions in 4 to 5yrs. If you must state otherwise please let us know if that's simply your personal opinion or if you have some inside info to back it up. And if everyone wants me to stop posting inside information just let me know and I'll go away.
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Thats becaus of " free view"...you buy the equipment but the service is free....similar to OTA
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With fewer channels, and it mostly being government run (forgive me, Sky), I wonder how broad the offerings are. How many movies are delivered that way, and how recent? Are they afflicted, err, “blessed” with Home Shopping channels?
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Any word from any of your contacts on how the transition from satellite to broadband TV delivery will play out? Based on everything I've read, including lots of statements over the past couple of years from AT&T CEO Stephenson, the OTT cloud-based video delivery platform currently used by DTV Now will eventually undergird all of their internet-delivered video, regardless of the receiving device or the branding on the app.
It's expected that another OTT service -- branding unknown but likely to including the DirecTV name somehow -- will launch in the next few months and it will be provisioned to TVs exclusively through an AT&T-issued STB (the Android TV-powered C71 Osprey box currently being beta tested). Unlike the bring-your-own-box DTV Now service, aimed at cord-cutters, this forthcoming service sounds more like the full-blown traditional DTV experience but with linear channels, cloud DVR and VOD all delivered OTT. (And I'm sure that the C71 box would get an update to prominently feature and integrate the upcoming WarnerMedia/HBO SVOD service too when it launches in late '19 or early '20.)
Most of my friends and old co-workers at DTV are in broadcast operations and engineering, I don't know anyone on the front lines of streaming.
Is it possible AT&T is going to outsource management of the uplinks, not necessarily cease broadcasting satellite? It makes no sense whatsoever to launch T16 if they will be discontinuing satellite service so soon. They could probably save a couple hundred million dollars by not launching it, and selling it to someone else.
