Did Stankey Just Say AT&T Doesn’t Need DTV?

[Juan]

It is still making over $4 billion a year, about the same as it was making before all the subscriber losses. The decline will eventually slow, there is still a core audience of people who live in areas without good alternatives or are big time sports fans.

I wonder if they might even see some new signups once the pandemic is over and sports is back to normal. Unfortunately I doubt that will happen this fall, I'm highly skeptical the NFL will be able to make it through a season given what's going with the much more socially distanced sport of baseball so far.

All cable and satellite in decline...it would be like buying block buster video...future is streaming

 

[ncted]

Who would buy it?

Why Dish of course. They did buy Blockbuster didn't they?

 

[NashGuy]

It is still making over $4 billion a year, about the same as it was making before all the subscriber losses. The decline will eventually slow, there is still a core audience of people who live in areas without good alternatives or are big time sports fans.

I wonder if they might even see some new signups once the pandemic is over and sports is back to normal. Unfortunately I doubt that will happen this fall, I'm highly skeptical the NFL will be able to make it through a season given what's going with the much more socially distanced sport of baseball so far.

Of all the MVPDs, it would seem like DTV is the one that will be most hurt by this pandemic. So many DTV subscribers are big sports fans and sports are being hit hard. I'm skeptical that the MLB will be able to finish out their season and, as you said, if baseball can't do it, what's the likelihood of the high-contact NFL pulling it off? In which case, NFL Sunday Ticket becomes worthless to DTV this year as an incentive to sign up or stick with the service. And as the pandemic drags on and continues to hurt the economy, more and more folks will be looking to cut unnecessary expenses like pricey pay TV packages.

So the subscriber losses may eventually slow down at DTV but I'm doubtful that will happen this year.

 

[CSM]

Over at the other forum it was brought up about the with AT&T TV being integrated with DTV. So how could they just sell DTV?

 

[Jimbo]

Of all the MVPDs, it would seem like DTV is the one that will be most hurt by this pandemic. So many DTV subscribers are big sports fans and sports are being hit hard. I'm skeptical that the MLB will be able to finish out their season and, as you said, if baseball can't do it, what's the likelihood of the high-contact NFL pulling it off? In which case, NFL Sunday Ticket becomes worthless to DTV this year as an incentive to sign up or stick with the service. And as the pandemic drags on and continues to hurt the economy, more and more folks will be looking to cut unnecessary expenses like pricey pay TV packages.

So the subscriber losses may eventually slow down at DTV but I'm doubtful that will happen this year.

Like the HIGH prices of most of the Streaming services now ...

 

[NashGuy]

Like the HIGH prices of most of the Streaming services now ...

When you say streaming services, do you mean Netflix ($9-16), HBO Max ($15), Hulu ($6-12), Disney+ ($7), Apple TV+ ($5), CBS AA ($6-10), etc? Because I consider those to be low prices relative to a cable TV package.

Or are you talking about cable TV packages that happen to stream over the internet, like YouTube TV ($65), Hulu with Live TV ($55 and up), and AT&T TV Now ($50 and up)? Those aren't cheap, and their prices have certainly gone up over the past few years. But they're still less than the usual prices for lower-tier DirecTV packages.

 

[Jimbo]

When you say streaming services, do you mean Netflix ($9-16), HBO Max ($15), Hulu ($6-12), Disney+ ($7), Apple TV+ ($5), CBS AA ($6-10), etc? Because I consider those to be low prices relative to a cable TV package.

Or are you talking about cable TV packages that happen to stream over the internet, like YouTube TV ($65), Hulu with Live TV ($55 and up), and AT&T TV Now ($50 and up)? Those aren't cheap, and their prices have certainly gone up over the past few years. But they're still less than the usual prices for lower-tier DirecTV packages.

I was referring to the latter of what you mentioned.

You cannot compare a full channel package vs a Netflix or Hulu ect because you would have to have multiple services in order to get the same channels.

For example, say I have 20 channels that I really watch out of the 7000 being offered, if I went and tried to get what is on each of those channels via streaming it would be more than what I pay for my D* package.

 

[slice1900]

Of all the MVPDs, it would seem like DTV is the one that will be most hurt by this pandemic. So many DTV subscribers are big sports fans and sports are being hit hard.

Absolutely, if the NFL is cancelled I'm sure Directv will see another big wave of people dropping.

But once sports get started up again they will get a lot of the ones who left due to having very little sports to watch. The ratings of the sports that have been on in the past month have been much higher than the comparables from last year, there is clearly an element of "starved for sports" that will only get bigger if we have to suffer through a fall without football.

 

[NashGuy]

I was referring to the latter of what you mentioned.

You cannot compare a full channel package vs a Netflix or Hulu ect because you would have to have multiple services in order to get the same channels.

For example, say I have 20 channels that I really watch out of the 7000 being offered, if I went and tried to get what is on each of those channels via streaming it would be more than what I pay for my D* package.

Right. But again, if you're unemployed or had your hours cut way back and you're looking for a way to save money, you might decide that you're OK not getting all those channels in exchange for a lower bill. For some that would mean a skinnier, cheaper package of cable channels (e.g. YouTube TV, Sling, etc.). For most these days, though, it just means dumping cable TV entirely and going with some combo of on-demand streaming services and free OTA TV.

Basically, DTV has always positioned itself as the deluxe, more expensive cable TV service, which isn't a good place to be when the economy goes in the crapper.

 

[Jimbo]

Right. But again, if you're unemployed or had your hours cut way back and you're looking for a way to save money, you might decide that you're OK not getting all those channels in exchange for a lower bill. For some that would mean a skinnier, cheaper package of cable channels (e.g. YouTube TV, Sling, etc.). For most these days, though, it just means dumping cable TV entirely and going with some combo of on-demand streaming services and free OTA TV.

Basically, DTV has always positioned itself as the deluxe, more expensive cable TV service, which isn't a good place to be when the economy goes in the crapper.

I absolutely agree ...
If your money is tight or your unemployed.
At that point you choose a few that would get you buy.

But thats Not exactly a replacement.