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[nelson61]

There really is not much to see here. First, of course, DirecTV is, and will remain, highly profitable.

DirecTV and DISH have totally different business models. DISH's is far more prone to "cord-cutting" as it sells on price alone. DirecTV remains luxury TV, a simple, easy to understand, linear system and remains the go to for rural customers, older people, and, most importantly, commercial accounts including sports bars. Not everybody want to save 40 cents by cord cutting and not everybody wants to save $40 by getting inferior channel lineups. Some people just want their TV to W O R K .

If the market thinks DirecTV is highly profitable, it would not have slashed its value by some 30 billion dollars. Of course I guess if the stockholders writing off half their investment is "profitable" one could conclude otherwise.

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[Claude Greiner]

This is the $10,000 question and, I think, the real reason why AT&T would not want to sell off DirecTV yet. Because I would bet that the latest carriage contracts that AT&T has negotiated with the cable networks cover ALL their services: DirecTV, Uverse TV, plus their new streaming services which they see as their future, AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now (formerly DirecTV Now). AT&T is only able to get favorable carriage rates because they have so many total subscribers. When they announce figures as of the end of this quarter, the total number of "premium" TV subscribers, those on DTV, Uverse TV, or the new AT&T TV, will probably be about 20.5 million. But the vast majority of those -- nearly 17 million -- are on DirecTV.

And if they spun off or sold off 80% of their TV subscriber base by getting rid of DirecTV, I doubt that their latest carriage contracts with the cable networks would hold up for AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now. Surely the carriage prices that AT&T would have to pay the networks would shoot up, meaning that they'd have to also raise the prices on AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now or just eat the additional carriage costs.

Your 100% correct.

As it stands right now when there is a dispute it effects Directv, streaming and U-verse.

So all the contracts are dependent on the other.

As long as Directv is profitable and is not loosing money (not subscribers) I don’t think selling Directv to anyone is really an option.

Dish has been bleeding subscribers for years, but they are still profitable at the end of the day.

 

[NYDutch]

I wonder if anyone in AT&T's legal department had the foresight to include provisions in the new carriage contracts that cover divesting or discontinuing one or more of their services?

 

[Claude Greiner]

Because people who actually install Dish are reporting they are very busy. These customers aren’t materializing out of thin air.

Not everyone leaving DTV is cord cutting.


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The only reason why Dish is busy is due to the recent Directv promotions going away for existing customers and the channel disputes.

My Comcast business was up 50% for the last few months, mostly from customers jumping ship from AT&T.

They are not getting Dish because Dish is somehow better (because it’s not) but more because when jumping ship from AT&T, Dish may seem like the only other option if they don’t have access to cable or don’t know any better.

Give it a few more months. There are still many customers who don’t realize the channel disputes ended 3 weeks ago.

It will be atleast another year till all the fall out over promotional pricing ending for some customers along with the associated churn.

 

[lparsons21]

While the DirecTV promotions are slightly less valuable, they still exist. Just got yet another offer in the mail complete with cheap first year subscriptions, NFLST and $300 gift card.

The only place I see the promotions from them going away is in speeches by ATT blathering on about the ‘premium customers’ they want to keep and shed the rest.


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[ewindowman]

Dish may be busy installing new customers but I also wonder how many are leaving at the same time. Times are changing quickly now. We have apple streaming, Disney streaming plus hula included and espn with a fair price. All coming live in a few months. I can only imagine what the numbers will be next year.


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[navychop]

Really ???
If you ask the D* Installers, they are very busy as well.

You mean DTV does a truck roll for subscribers dropping service?

JK




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[Jimbo]

You mean DTV does a truck roll for subscribers dropping service?

JK




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No, but they are doing plenty of installs dailey.

 

[larry55]

I’m not going any where.Internet go down you stuck. I’m been with D several years finally getting cable here and fast internet . I signed up for the internet and kept Directv.

 

[slice1900]

Yeah I wouldn't base anything on whether installers are busy, because whether that means you are actually gaining or losing subscribers depends mostly on how many installers there are compared to 6-12 months ago.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Dish may be busy installing new customers but I also wonder how many are leaving at the same time. Times are changing quickly now. We have apple streaming, Disney streaming plus hula included and espn with a fair price. All coming live in a few months. I can only imagine what the numbers will be next year.


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I bet they have a slight gain in customers next quarter when they announce the results.

They will see a net loss on satellite customers and any gains will be due to sling

 

[Pere845]

Honestly up here in Boise I’ve seen both direct and dish installers hard at work I kind of find it hard to believe That cable is dying when all these new houses that are popping up you see a satellite dish. Seems to me people still prefer the traditional way of television. Heck my mom’s neighbors just moved in and the direct truck was there. So at this point im going to go ahead and say I don’t feel direct or anyone else is going anywhere anytime soon. Will D* get sold you can bet on it

 

[SamCdbs]

If the market thinks DirecTV is highly profitable, it would not have slashed its value by some 30 billion dollars. Of course I guess if the stockholders writing off half their investment is "profitable" one could conclude otherwise.

BASIC business terms:

“Profit” means the positive amount of $$ left over after expenses. Therefore anyone who can read AT&T’s annual reports and S.E.C. forms understands that DirecTV is a highly profit making division of AT&T.

“Good investment” means, more or less, the perception by “the market” that the profitability of a said asset will continue into some term of the future.

This thread is about the latter, the former is a matter of fact and not debatable.

 

[Juan]

A loss is not losing money but making less profit than the year before

BASIC business terms:

“Profit” means the positive amount of $$ left over after expenses. Therefore anyone who can read AT&T’s annual reports and S.E.C. forms understands that DirecTV is a highly profit making division of AT&T.

“Good investment” means, more or less, the perception by “the market” that the profitability of a said asset will continue into some term of the future.

This thread is about the latter, the former is a matter of fact and not debatable.

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[nelson61]

BASIC business terms:

“Profit” means the positive amount of $$ left over after expenses. Therefore anyone who can read AT&T’s annual reports and S.E.C. forms understands that DirecTV is a highly profit making division of AT&T.

“Good investment” means, more or less, the perception by “the market” that the profitability of a said asset will continue into some term of the future.

This thread is about the latter, the former is a matter of fact and not debatable.

Highly ?????????????????????????????????????????

Take a look at their competitors that are blowing them out of the water.

 

[SamCdbs]

OK.

DirecTV made AT&T over $33 Million profit. That is a lot.

Nothing is getting “blown away” (nor, for investors, is such a thing relevant). There remains plenty of life in linear TV. Decades.

 

[rad]

Dish must be trying harder to get new subs, last week got a snail mail (first is ages) from Dish offering a $300 gift card.

 

[Ziptied]

Dish must be trying harder to get new subs, last week got a snail mail (first is ages) from Dish offering a $300 gift card.

DISH has been pre-qualifying targeted customers for quite awhile now. They've been sending those offers to what they see as high quality customers. As usual, the metrics used in determining who those customers are is "Top Secret".

 

[Bruce]

DISH has been pre-qualifying targeted customers for quite awhile now. They've been sending those offers to what they see as high quality customers. As usual, the metrics used in determining who those customers are is "Top Secret".

I wish Dish and DirecTV would quit sending them to me, but to be fair I get them from Comcast also.


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