Interesting Article From Swanni. Does AT&T Want Out of TV?

[CSM]

Does AT&T Want Out Of TV?

Q. I don’t understand what AT&T is doing with DIRECTV or U-verse, either. They raise prices. They stop selling it in some places. It makes no sense to me. It doesn’t seem like they …

tvanswerman.com

AT&T is transitioning from traditional TV to the ‘new TV’ as fast as humanely possible. That’s why I predict that in the next 12 months, it will:

* Sell DIRECTV
* Close U-verse
* Close AT&T TV Now, which provides the traditional live channel lineup online.
* Close AT&T TV, its new live channel streaming service that is designed to be a DIRECTV alternative.

AT&T will jettison all traditional TV products and concentrate solely on on-demand and streaming.

 

[TheTechGuru]

I heard that AT&T only bought DirecTV to obtain all the content (mainly sports) that comes with it with the intention of later selling the DirecTV and keeping all the content rights.

 

[Jimbo]

I heard that AT&T only bought DirecTV to obtain all the content (mainly sports) that comes with it with the intention of later selling the DirecTV and keeping all the content rights.

Actually they bought D* strictly for the Customer Base ....
Programming was 2nd ...

 

[buckintn]

The close Att Tv is a little far fetched since it jut launched a few months ago and they have 2 year contracts. I have heard they wanted HBO max have a live tv option similar to a Hulu. They may want to integrate att tv into that at some point. However, anything is possible with ATT as they seem to beta release something and lose interest in it quickly.

 

[navychop]

Not exactly what I’ve read here. I wonder where he cribbed it from?

 

[Claude Greiner]

I think it all comes down to installation and service.

AT&T tv has no install costs or require service calls.

They ship the box, customer puts in their WiFi password and it’s good to go.

No more dish, and paying a few hundred dollars for an install.

The cost to deploy AT&T Tv is literally like $25 per Tv. The shipping is likely more than the hardware

 

[Bruce]

Does AT&T want to sell DirecTV....duh.

Does anyone want to buy AT&T with it losing so many customers every quarters, no new Satellites on order, no new Hardware coming soon and the future does not look like things are changing is the bigger question.

Same goes for Dish.

 

[Juan]

Does AT&T want to sell DirecTV....duh.

Does anyone want to buy AT&T with it losing so many customers every quarters, no new Satellites on order, no new Hardware coming soon and the future does not look like things are changing is the bigger question.

Same goes for Dish.

Sounds like a Charlie steal deal

 

[navychop]

Dish doesn’t need new hardware.

 

[slice1900]

Dish doesn’t need new hardware.

Neither does Directv. Nor does Directv need any new satellites until at least 2030, but I'm pretty sure Dish will.

 

[TheTechGuru]

I think it all comes down to installation and service.

AT&T tv has no install costs or require service calls.

They ship the box, customer puts in their WiFi password and it’s good to go.

No more dish, and paying a few hundred dollars for an install.

The cost to deploy AT&T Tv is literally like $25 per Tv. The shipping is likely more than the hardware

That's dumb, not everyone has access to "unlimited" broadband. Hell, my AT&T fiber plan has a 1TB limit...

 

[Claude Greiner]

That's dumb, not everyone has access to "unlimited" broadband. Hell, my AT&T fiber plan has a 1TB limit...

That’s why they are pushing it to the addresses they are the internet provider.

If you have AT&T I don’t believe they count the data.

I used to have an iPad with 1 gig of data just to stream Directv.

 

[NashGuy]

Does AT&T Want Out Of TV?

Q. I don’t understand what AT&T is doing with DIRECTV or U-verse, either. They raise prices. They stop selling it in some places. It makes no sense to me. It doesn’t seem like they …

tvanswerman.com

AT&T is transitioning from traditional TV to the ‘new TV’ as fast as humanely possible. That’s why I predict that in the next 12 months, it will:

* Sell DIRECTV
* Close U-verse
* Close AT&T TV Now, which provides the traditional live channel lineup online.
* Close AT&T TV, its new live channel streaming service that is designed to be a DIRECTV alternative.

AT&T will jettison all traditional TV products and concentrate solely on on-demand and streaming.

Wow, I've read Swann's columns on and off for years. I'm surprised to read that he thinks they'll shut down AT&T TV within the next year.

It's clear to me that AT&T is more excited about HBO Max than AT&T TV but I see no reason why they would want to completely exit the MVPD business as long as they are a home broadband provider (and one that owns popular linear cable channels like CNN, TBS and TNT, no less).

Heck, we're seeing T-Mobile move in the opposite direction. As they start to ramp up their own home broadband business (using wireless 5G and 4G signals), they're planning to revamp and relaunch their own MVPD, TVision, as an AT&T TV-like OTT service with a customized Android TV box and remote control. And it will be a long time, if ever, before T-Mobile has as many home broadband customers, for whom they can bundle in cable TV service, as AT&T has. And AT&T also has the benefits of being a content/channel owner, which T-Mo doesn't have. (Given all that, I'm not sure why T-Mo doesn't just strike a deal to resell Hulu with Live TV and/or YouTube TV.)

So I'm not buying the idea of an AT&T TV shutdown. If they sell or spin off DirecTV, which I do think is likely, then AT&T TV will essentially just be the next-gen replacement for Uverse TV (which already is no longer taking new customers). Who knows what it will mean, though, in terms of channel packages and pricing at AT&T TV, which currently closely resembles DirecTV and is based on the same channel carriage contracts.

I do think AT&T TV Now gets shut down at the point when HBO Max begins offering add-on live cable TV service, similar to Hulu. IIRC, the HBO Max unveiling back at the end of Oct. projected that would happen in 2021. (Or maybe that's when HBO Max is supposed to get an ad-supported tier. Or maybe both will happen in 2021.) Who knows, maybe it'll even get shut down before then. AT&T clearly doesn't care much about it given the lack of marketing.

 

[Jimbo]

Swann throws a lot of stuff on the wall, early, this way he's right about it sometimes ...

I don't see ATT TV shutting down anytime soon, heck were just now putting it in peoples homes.

Yes, thats right, even though its a Customer Install device.
I go out to put internet in and the customer expects me to put thier ATT TV in as well ....

If I do, it takes that much longer for me to close my job, which is bad for me, because were measured on time per job, and its bad for me because if I don't they call back in and complain and they make up a ticket to come back, which makes a repeat visit against me.

Either way I lose.

 

[NashGuy]

Swann throws a lot of stuff on the wall, early, this way he's right about it sometimes ...

I don't see ATT TV shutting down anytime soon, heck were just now putting it in peoples homes.

Yes, thats right, even though its a Customer Install device.
I go out to put internet in and the customer expects me to put thier ATT TV in as well ....

If I do, it takes that much longer for me to close my job, which is bad for me, because were measured on time per job, and its bad for me because if I don't they call back in and complain and they make up a ticket to come back, which makes a repeat visit against me.

Either way I lose.

Well, if I ever get my elderly parents switched over to AT&T Fiber + TV, I won't make the installer stick around to set up the boxes, ha. But these days we aren't too keen on the idea of having anyone come into their house because of the virus.

In the meantime, I'd like to see AT&T TV add local PBS stations (although I'm not sure that's a big deal for my parents). Also hoping to hear that they update the UI to make it easy to see all your DVR timers in one place in case you want to edit or delete any of them. Seems like a pretty basic feature of any DVR but my understanding is that AT&T TV doesn't have that. It only lists upcoming individual recordings, I think. IDK, maybe it wouldn't be a big deal. I'd have to play around with the box to see. But then I'm not walking into an AT&T store these days and handling their remote control...

 

[Jimbo]

Well, if I ever get my elderly parents switched over to AT&T Fiber + TV, I won't make the installer stick around to set up the boxes, ha. But these days we aren't too keen on the idea of having anyone come into their house because of the virus.

In the meantime, I'd like to see AT&T TV add local PBS stations (although I'm not sure that's a big deal for my parents). Also hoping to hear that they update the UI to make it easy to see all your DVR timers in one place in case you want to edit or delete any of them. Seems like a pretty basic feature of any DVR but my understanding is that AT&T TV doesn't have that. It only lists upcoming individual recordings, I think. IDK, maybe it wouldn't be a big deal. I'd have to play around with the box to see. But then I'm not walking into an AT&T store these days and handling their remote control...

Believe me, I don't really want to be going into these houses either ....
60% of them probably have worse germs floating around them than the Virus.
20% I can't find the floor.
40% want it fixed, but won't move anything for you ...

20% are reasonable inside ...
The other 20% are actually nice ...

When I get home I see the mess that my home is sometimes and realize, it's not so bad.

As far as the ATT TV, I really haven't had a chance to use it, I mainly have to get them set up as in connected to the internet (if they can remember thier codes) and point them in the right direction.

As for the Internet goes, 60+% tell me they have them already registered (If your not registered, when I get the internet up and ready, it will say "Connected, but no Internet". )
Once I register them, everything works ...
Btw, the sub can also go thru the process if they want.

 

[slice1900]

Swann throws a lot of stuff on the wall, early, this way he's right about it sometimes ...

Plus people tend to ignore the details. He says they'll get rid of AT&T TV by end of next year. If they drop it in 2025 people will say "see he said they were going to get rid of it".

If they sell Directv, which I'm still skeptical of since there are no buyers for it (they'll have to spin it off) then I bet AT&T TV will go with it.

 

[CSM]

Wow, I've read Swann's columns on and off for years. I'm surprised to read that he thinks they'll shut down AT&T TV within the next year.

It's clear to me that AT&T is more excited about HBO Max than AT&T TV but I see no reason why they would want to completely exit the MVPD business as long as they are a home broadband provider (and one that owns popular linear cable channels like CNN, TBS and TNT, no less).

Heck, we're seeing T-Mobile move in the opposite direction. As they start to ramp up their own home broadband business (using wireless 5G and 4G signals), they're planning to revamp and relaunch their own MVPD, TVision, as an AT&T TV-like OTT service with a customized Android TV box and remote control. And it will be a long time, if ever, before T-Mobile has as many home broadband customers, for whom they can bundle in cable TV service, as AT&T has. And AT&T also has the benefits of being a content/channel owner, which T-Mo doesn't have. (Given all that, I'm not sure why T-Mo doesn't just strike a deal to resell Hulu with Live TV and/or YouTube TV.)

So I'm not buying the idea of an AT&T TV shutdown. If they sell or spin off DirecTV, which I do think is likely, then AT&T TV will essentially just be the next-gen replacement for Uverse TV (which already is no longer taking new customers). Who knows what it will mean, though, in terms of channel packages and pricing at AT&T TV, which currently closely resembles DirecTV and is based on the same channel carriage contracts.

I do think AT&T TV Now gets shut down at the point when HBO Max begins offering add-on live cable TV service, similar to Hulu. IIRC, the HBO Max unveiling back at the end of Oct. projected that would happen in 2021. (Or maybe that's when HBO Max is supposed to get an ad-supported tier. Or maybe both will happen in 2021.) Who knows, maybe it'll even get shut down before then. AT&T clearly doesn't care much about it given the lack of marketing.

I wonder if AT&T will merge AT&T TV, and AT&T TV Now into one product. Then merge that into HBO Max like Hulu Live TV and Hulu?

 

[Jimbo]

I wonder if AT&T will merge AT&T TV, and AT&T TV Now into one product. Then merge that into HBO Max like Hulu Live TV and Hulu?

I could see them dropping ATT TV Now and keeping ATT TV for awhile along with HBO Max ....
Eventually merging ATT TV with HBO Max, IF they are not both gone by then ....

THey seem to try something, get it going good, then get rid of it and trey something else.
Never give anything enough time to develop.

 

[navychop]

By then, we’ll have the Holosuite. What will that require? With Super Duper Compression, as low as 10 GBs? Byte, not bit.