Is AT&T gutting DIRECTV?

There's no way I could get by with streaming service only where I live, my Cable company I get my internet through, Spectrum, is unreliable, I constantly lose signal, and the only other option is slow ass Verizon DSL, at like 1-2 download, our town refuses to allow FiOS into it, don't get it, must have a kickback from Spectrum from when they were TWC.

I originally got DirecTV for NFL ST, but love the service, never goes out, we've had some severe thunderstorms here in NY(Albany area) and the service never went out, plus Customer Service is great IMO, they always try to get me the best deal, like $60 off a month for 12 months, free NFL ST Max just for signing a new 1yr deal, have issues with contracts. I refuse to switch, I guess the NFL ST situation will dictate that though, I can't see the NFL giving it to one cable provider, like Xfinity/Comcast, which isn't available in my area either, they'd have to give it to all providers.
 
DirecTV's current crop of receivers are woefully behind the times when compared to DISH Hopper, Comcast X1 or TiVo. They have virtually zero apps at a time when a large and growing percentage of Americans' viewing hours are now on-demand streaming. And the Genie UI just looks tired and outdated now, IMO.

I completely agree with this statement, the hardware is dated, the UI is basic, and they are not prioritizing adding features (or in some ways the equipment may not support additional features, i.e. apps). Adding Netflix to the C61 or HR54 may simply not be possible, but if it is they clearly have shown no interest in those type of partnerships which Comcast has embraces.

That said, nobody touches DirecTV in picture quality and reliability. We recently had a few hour outage with some channels, which seems to happen every few years. Streaming, from what I've experienced, Youtube TV has the highest reliability, yet they still have problems at least multiple times a year, and usually they stop working entirely - just happened a few weeks ago. Comcast is reliable in most areas, but has highly compressed their picture. It's not supposed to be the case that on demand looks significantly better than live programming. It's also not supposed to be the case that locals look good, but all cable channels look pixelated, but that is exactly what Comcast is doing. Dish has good picture quality, close to DirecTV, has improved versus years ago. Also has superior hardware, nobody could argue otherwise. That said, regular disputes, aggressive stance on dropping programming, and in the past year showing signs of dropping channels and walking away with intent, such as HBO and Fox Sports. Dish is showing they will target a core group of customers that want mainstream non-premium channels, and they are looking to exit the regional sports markets entirely, something they've always done in the New York area and others. Tivo, well, it's expensive and relies on cable, cable card is nearing end of life and it takes me back to the Comcast picture quality issues.

So they all have challenges and shortcomings. I have been bouncing between DirecTV and streaming the past few years, depending on the deal, but I've landed back at DirecTV at this time and if I can keep the price somewhat reasonable with an annual phone call I'll likely hang in for a while. They tend to give a gift card at sign up that covers the ETF after a year, so when they won't work with me on price they've already covered my cost to leave. It's a sad reality, but if they're willing to keep it somewhat reasonable (Choice with 2 TV's for $80-$100 is somewhat reasonable, $125 their current regular price with sports fee is not).

My thoughts:
DirecTV - pros - high picture quality / reliability, cons - price, dated UI equipment (though it works fine), and again price
Dish - pros - decent picture quality, strong equipment and UI, cons - loss of networks, disputes, clearly don't want to cater sports fans
Comcast - pros - decent equipment and UI and reliability, pricing is fair in bundles, cons - starting to drop channels (ID, WGN, TCM), picture quality is fair at best
Tivo - well, take Comcast and add some additional cost for Tivo, not as practical as it used to be since Comcast moved to X1 and dropped additional boxes to $5mo in most areas. Most aren't fans of the new UI.

Sadly most providers are getting worse instead of better due to the increasing costs, dropping networks, etc. DirecTV seems to stand firm and not drop networks, but is clearly not investing in the product anymore.
 
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as traditional pay tv loses subs, and vod gains the. vod prices will go up
you will also see unskipable commercials on vod (hulu is doing this iirc)

yep things are changing, and will continue to change, until it all evens out

Hulu has an ad free plan it’s $12 per month.

The other one is $6 I think.

They’ll all likely have cheaper ad supported plans one day.

The option to remain ad free will stay if you want to pay more.
 
Vinyl never went away, there are lots of people who know a good vinyl album is superior to CDs and record sales have "breaking records" every year for the lat 25yrs or so.

Infographic: The Surprising Comeback of Vinyl Records

I actually would prefer to listen to music on vinyl, but who has time to just sit and listen to music? (judging by my millennial relatives: stoners -- at least they listen to decent music while they toke and not the auto-tuned crap they put out these days)
 
ATT laid off all the people who do the planning, designing and purchasing of satellites plus it takes a good year and a half to design and launch one. If they need another satellite 5yrs from now they will be lucky to have one in orbit 7yrs from now.

ATT doesn’t need another sat for at least a decade So they should have no plans to launch one. If things change in 5 years they can launch another
 
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ATT laid off all the people who do the planning, designing and purchasing of satellites plus it takes a good year and a half to design and launch one. If they need another satellite 5yrs from now they will be lucky to have one in orbit 7yrs from now.
After reading this it reminded me where I think I read a post in here that said they laid off DTV staff that develops their new boxes? I could be wrong on that. I wonder also reading this post if AT&T really won’t sell DTV they are just going to let DTV rot until the T16 runs out of fuel but continue to make money off of DTV? The only bad thing about this is would the next round of layoffs be in the DTV broadcast centers and what happens when DTV has something that happened last Saturday? Or replacing boxes?
 
DirecTV's current crop of receivers are woefully behind the times when compared to DISH Hopper, Comcast X1 or TiVo. They have virtually zero apps at a time when a large and growing percentage of Americans' viewing hours are now on-demand streaming. And the Genie UI just looks tired and outdated now, IMO.

A majority of the people don’t care about the aps.

All they care is if their channel comes in and of the guide is fast
 
I choose to stay with DirecTV for a number of reasons, even though it costs me personally much more than a CABLE TV/INTERNET Bundle (Currently I have to pay a highly overpriced Cable Internet only fee for my internet).]/b] If I was to expected to either Switch to AT&T streaming or churn to another provider, I'll churn over to my local Cable Company for their combined Bundled service and save myself the money mostly because the Cable TV Streaming from Spectrum is on par with what AT&T will provide me for VASTLY less money.

John


How much is the 'highly overpriced Cable Internet only fee'?
 
Guess we figured out who the Directv shill is. Why “can’t you wait” Claude? What personal interest do you have?

I was saying, streaming is killing traditional Tv, and my business.

I would love to have sold satellite forever, unfortunately 80% of my business is customers looking for internet only.

Directv is on its way out, and Dish will be following shortly thereafter.

The only reason why they didn’t loose as many customers as projected is because people are pissed at AT&T
 
DirecTV's current crop of receivers are woefully behind the times when compared to DISH Hopper, Comcast X1 or TiVo. They have virtually zero apps at a time when a large and growing percentage of Americans' viewing hours are now on-demand streaming. And the Genie UI just looks tired and outdated now, IMO.

Most people use a streaming box or smart TV for apps, not their cable/satellite box. Anyway, that's a software issue - they don't need new hardware to change the software. The "Genie UI looks tired" is the stupidest criticism ever. Some people think you need to keep changing a UI to make it "fresh" I guess. Everyone whined about how Directv's HD GUI was outdated, so they introduced a new UI on the HR44/HR54/HS17 and everyone had to suffer through a year or two of them screwing around trying to make it work while features were changed/removed, and now that it has finally stabilized it is "tired" again so you want to change it and go through all that another time? Do you watch TV for the programming or the UI?
 
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Charter charges $75 for internet only, if you have TV and Internet from Charter it is $44 for Internet, and $44 for TV.

John

Those are 1 year new customer rates, the normal bundled discount is $10 per service. If you opt for SPP2 w/Voice, there is no discount for bundling TV, but you get a $20 discount on phone making it $10. If you had internet and TV, you'd be paying $65 for internet, plus the cost of the TV package which is much more than $44.
 
Those are 1 year new customer rates, the normal bundled discount is $10 per service. If you opt for SPP2 w/Voice, there is no discount for bundling TV, but you get a $20 discount on phone making it $10. If you had internet and TV, you'd be paying $65 for internet, plus the cost of the TV package which is much more than $44.

Don’t forget the extra fees.


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