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

[Jimbo]

When does the Holodeck get here ?

 

[NashGuy]

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?

The main differentiator between AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now is that the former requires a 2-yr contract (and comes with certain benefits, like a free custom Android TV box and lower first-year pricing) while the latter is contract-free (but comes with no perks). So it makes sense that they would just fold AT&T TV Now into HBO Max as an optional add-on, given that HBO Max is also contract-free. And that's what they've indicated that they will do.

 

[NashGuy]

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.

Nah, they'll keep AT&T TV because they'll want/need a traditional-esque cable TV service (i.e. more than just HBO Max) to sell to their AT&T Fiber customers. And since they own a clutch of popular cable networks, MVPD economics are better for AT&T than a comparably-sized broadband operator who doesn't own any networks/content. So it seems very unlikely to me that they would just exit the MVPD business completely and opt to resell YouTube TV as, say, Verizon Home 5G does.

Remember, back before AT&T acquired DirecTV or TimeWarner, they had Uverse TV, which is now completely replaced by AT&T TV for new sales. So even if DirecTV goes away, they'll keep AT&T TV around as the successor to Uverse TV (although the AT&T TV channel packages and pricing may very well change). The fact that AT&T TV, unlike Uverse TV, can be sold to consumers using other broadband providers is a bonus for them, although I don't think that's where they're going to ever really focus their sales effort.

Now that Stephenson is no longer the CEO, the company can seriously explore the possibility of spinning off DirecTV. Who knows, behind-the-scenes talks with Charlie Ergen may already be underway...

 

[CSM]

Nah, they'll keep AT&T TV because they'll want/need a traditional-esque cable TV service (i.e. more than just HBO Max) to sell to their AT&T Fiber customers. And since they own a clutch of popular cable networks, MVPD economics are better for AT&T than a comparably-sized broadband operator who doesn't own any networks/content. So it seems very unlikely to me that they would just exit the MVPD business completely and opt to resell YouTube TV as, say, Verizon Home 5G does.

Remember, back before AT&T acquired DirecTV or TimeWarner, they had Uverse TV, which is now completely replaced by AT&T TV for new sales. So even if DirecTV goes away, they'll keep AT&T TV around as the successor to Uverse TV (although the AT&T TV channel packages and pricing may very well change). The fact that AT&T TV, unlike Uverse TV, can be sold to consumers using other broadband providers is a bonus for them, although I don't think that's where they're going to ever really focus their sales effort.

Now that Stephenson is no longer the CEO, the company can seriously explore the possibility of spinning off DirecTV. Who knows, behind-the-scenes talks with Charlie Ergen may already be underway...

What about AT&T TV needing the channel contract clout with DTV because of the DTV subscribers? If they merged AT&T TV into HBO Max and got rid of AT&T TV Now then maybe they could have channel negotiation clout based on HBO Max subscriber count? Then they wouldn’t need DTV.

 

[NashGuy]

What about AT&T TV needing the channel contract clout with DTV because of the DTV subscribers? If they merged AT&T TV into HBO Max and got rid of AT&T TV Now then maybe they could have channel negotiation clout based on HBO Max subscriber count? Then they wouldn’t need DTV.

They wouldn't be able to negotiate channel contracts based on the overall HBO Max subscriber count, only based on the subset who added on a cable channel package. So I don't see how folding AT&T TV into HBO Max helps them out.