You might want to scream at Goodell some more ATT.
Posted on 10/12/2017 12:38:04 PM PDT by jeannineinsd
AT&T will report heavy subscriber losses at DirecTV in its third-quarter earnings later this month, bleeding that the telco giant chalked up to heightened competition in the pay-TV arena and the wallop of the summer hurricane season.
In a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Wednesday, AT&T said it would post a net loss of 90,000 traditional video subscribers for the quarter, offset by the addition of nearly 300,000 subscribers to its DirecTV Now streaming service. AT&T reports its third-quarter earnings on Oct. 24.
As MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett observed, the net loss means DirecTV is losing about 390,000 traditional subscribers — customers that had been paying at a higher rate than the low-cost DirecTV Now service. Moffett chalked it up to consumers moving away from the traditional big pay-TV bundle.
“It should be clear that DirecTV, like all of its cable peers, is suffering from the ravages of cord-cutting,” Moffett wrote.
The analyst also noted that the steep decline in traditional subs means that it is “all but unthinkable” that AT&T will make an effort to acquire DirecTV’s satellite TV rival Dish Network. Moffett also projects heavy video losses for Dish Network. “It is becoming increasingly clear that the wheels are falling off satellite TV,” he wrote.
The hurricanes that battered the southeastern U.S. and earthquakes in Mexico took a toll on AT&T’s wireless and video services, the company said.
AT&T warned that the drop in traditional video subs will hurt its revenues and margins. Adjusted consolidated operating income for its entertainment group will be flat year-over-year. But AT&T reiterated in the filing its full-year guidance of mid single-digit earnings growth and free cash flow of around $18 billion.
The subscriber losses at DirecTV underscore AT&T’s desire to diversify its holdings by adding Time Warner’s studio and networks to its portfolio, even though the earnings power of TW’s cable networks is also impacted by the erosion of the traditional pay-TV bundle. AT&T and Time Warner are said to be expecting formal word from the Justice Department on its review of the $85.4 billion merger by mid-November.
Cable and satellite companies continued to force stations on subscribers that nobody wants. They never caught on to the concept of “a la carte”. I know that’s not the only reason for the failure, but it’s one of ‘em.
Yeah. that’s my issue. I watch AMHC, Science, Discovery, Nat Geo and Smithsonian an ID a lot. So I am stuck with a top tier cable bill, unless someone comes up with an alacart solution.
In our area at least, DirecTV is awful. Service call response is measured by days instead of hours.
Yep. The State Farm commercial shows two idiotic white males stealing a couch. The previous image was of a black women and one who appears to be mixed race admiring the couch the latter owns.
That's a grand a year...savings.
DirecTV was once one of my favorite companies. Since ATT took over, the friendly web site interface is gone and customer service now sucks as bad as any other place. It’s a shame.
go all stream and cafeteria style choice of channels. Better show by show.
I was one of them despite the fact that I am an AT&T retiree that received a discount on the service.
We have DirecTV and we had to have a channel promoting lesbians — I think it was LOGO or something. We blocked it, but still... we were paying for it, along with a bunch of others full of crap and infomercials.
I live in the sticks. I have no cable and no DSL. However, we have an ATT 22 gig data plan. We used to have a 40 gig plan, but this one is not only $70 a month cheaper, but better. Both throttle you once you hit the max point (22 for one and 40 for the other). But the difference is that the 22 gig plan only throttles you by placing you at “low priority” on the tower.
Since we live in the sticks, here’s what it means to us compared to the old plan:
1. We have yet to be throttled at all.
2. We stream all we want.
3. I use my phone as a hotspot at home and it is the source for ALL of our TV viewing except DVD’s and BlueRays.
4. With Amazon Prime we have a world of free movies and TV shows. It appears to be never ending. And a lot of it is good stuff.
4. Via my phone I listen to Pandora and Youtube in my car on my 3 hour daily round trip commute.
5. We don’t even worry about being throttled. In six months it has yet to happen.
6. My wife uses a bluetooth adapter plugged into our home stereo. She then connects her phone to it for phone calls, pandora stations, iHeart radio.
All of the above are things we simply could not do with the old plan. It’s changed our life significantly.
It is ALL via the AT&T data plan. And in this case, being in the sticks is a huge advantage.
You might want to scream at Goodell some more ATT.
If you deal with AT&T you should know you’re being screwed. It has taken 30 years or more for the “baby Bells” to “recreate” the Old AT&T that Judge Harold Greene broke up.
what male husbands or fathers a butt of jokes in many sit coms since forever.
WHITE
Cord cutting. Won’t you still need some kind of hard wire coming into the home. Either copper or coax?
There are so many ads like that on TV for just about any product and service.
The propaganda organs don’t just peddle fake news, but fake (and insulting) reality as well in their ads.
Another reason to cut these bastards off.
Live sports is the only thing keeping cable/satellite companies subscriptions from completely crashing. The NFL is the biggest TV sport by a mile, and many only keep it for the Sunday ticket. You can also get most of your local games with a cheap antenna.
Expect the left-wing media complex to continue to cover for their SJW allies. Much like newspapers corporations, they will never admit the full truth when they can plausibly omit any self-incriminating factors.
Don’t do it. I had Uverse and when I moved was too far from the main transmission box to get the cable they said. I went with DirecTV and it sucks. If you get severe weather your not going to get a picture. You know when you need it most to watch the local weather or weather channel. I hate it but love the bill. Comcast pissed me off and I’ll never go back to them on principle. Can’t figure out if cutting the cord would get us all the programming we want but I’d be open to learning more about that. I have unlimited data with my cell phone carrier but can’t seem to figure out how to get the netflix to stream with my phone.
Directtvnow requires a land line but no dish. Direct tv requires just a dish-no land line. Internet will never be fast enough on a dish so what’s left? Wi-fi routers on ALL telephone poles/street lights?
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