I have to say, it's very entertaining reading this thread, watching folks who have never worked for DTV and who have no connections to key employees there try to dispute statements from someone who apparently has, ha!
Yes, of course, all long-range plans are subject to change. So it's quite possible that, come 2021, AT&T is no longer saying that US satellite uplinks will cease in 2023 or 2024. Maybe that timeframe gets pushed back for whatever reasons. And it's possible that AT&T's long-range plan isn't to simply shut down DTV satellite service in 2023-24 but rather to try to sell it off to another operator or otherwise liquidate whatever remaining value those assets have. But, assuming that Inclined Orbit is telling the truth about his recent conversations with current DTV employees (and has also been truthful about having even worked there in the past himself), then it does look like AT&T
currently plans to be out of the US satellite-based MVPD business in five years, one way or another.
And frankly, everything I read coming out of AT&T leadership indicates to me that they understand that satellite MVPD service is in irreversible decline, something to be milked for as much cash as possible now before getting rid of it. And they also understand that the future lies not in the traditional linear channel cable bundle (i.e. the MVPD model) but rather in large direct-to-consumer streaming services in which entertainment content is delivered on-demand (with news and sports being pretty much the only live content). Spend a bit of time reading the restructuring that's happening today at WarnerMedia ahead of the forthcoming launch of their SVOD competitor that will go up against Netflix. THAT'S where AT&T ultimately sees their future in the TV business, not in being a reseller of other companies' linear cable channels, regardless of whether those channels are delivered by satellite, or managed IP (Uverse TV), or OTT (DirecTV Now).
Oh, I just saw
this article a moment ago in which T-Mobile states that, if their merger with Sprint goes through, they project that their high-speed wireless network will reach 96% of rural Americans by 2024. Between those efforts, plus perhaps AT&T AirGig, plus low-earth orbit satellite internet services, it's certainly possible that by 2024 there will be very, very few Americans who would need to rely on either DISH or DTV satellite for their video entertainment. (BTW,
OneWeb just launched their first six satellites last week and plans to offer full global coverage with internet service at peak speeds of 500 Mbps by 2021.)