Is AT&T gutting DIRECTV?

[SamCdbs]

If we’re talking about taking live TV and mapping it straight to Internet delivery, I agree there are all kinds of problems with scaling the infrastructure to meet that kind of demand. Things continue to improve, and even HBO Go/NOW was able to keep up with Game of Thrones demand this year.

Not everything is a live mass-watch event though. 90% of content spread across linear broadcast channels can be put into on-demand catalogs, and you could get reasonable statistical multiplexing to balance out that load.

Chances that a significant quantity of people are all going to turn on “the big game” at the exact same time? Pretty high.

Chances that a significant quantity of people are all going to start watching something on Netflix at the exact same time? Much, much lower.

I agree with most of that. But, exactly why, will things “continue to improve” ? Not to get too deep, but that is part of the American/western ethos. “If they can put a man on the moon...”. Somethings are just not possible, and many more things are not economically possible. MAYBE things will continue to improve relative to internet TV (or fill in anything else here, from cure cancer to make ice cream that is not fattening and tastes great) or maybe NOT. Somethings are just not doable.

Regular NFL games get a weekend rating in the 10s. NFLST via internet is only available to the few people who cannot get DBS. And two weeks ago it crashed. As did Tiger-Phil, with less than 20K watching, and as did MLB.tv, nine times last year. Because the internet is just not ready for prime time in terms of live sports and other major events. And it may never be.

 

[TheTechGuru]

Don't the majority of DTV customers have satellite because they can't get good cable/internet speeds? How will forcing them to stream help the people that can't do that in the first place.

I have it because there is no cable where I live.

My grandma on the other hand has it because it is significantly clearer than the old MPEG2 SuddenLink cable in her area.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Here is another reminder that Streaming TV will be problematic for years to come. Internet Providers will CONTINUE to use their Dominant Status as your Internet provider to steer you to Providers based on your internet connection and your connection speed.

AT&T will pay $60 million to compensate unlimited data customers that found their data speeds throttled without warning because AT&T deemed them ‘heavy users’ that were slowing down AT&T’s wireless network.

“AT&T baited subscribers with promises of unlimited data, trapped them in multi-year contracts with punishing termination fees, and then scammed them by choking off their access unless they moved to a more expensive plan,” claimed FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra. “The AT&T throttling scandal is an important case study into how dominant firms operating without meaningful competition can easily renege on their contractual obligations and cheat consumers who have almost no recourse.”

The $60 million in compensation is part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that accused the company of false and misleading advertising after marketing an unlimited data plan subject to severe speed reductions after as little as 2 GB of usage. AT&T also agreed to a permanent injunction forbidding the company from advertising unlimited data plans without clear disclosures that such plans were subject to speed throttling. AT&T will have to prominently disclose such limitations in the future and not in the fine print.

Let me know when someone gets their settlement check for less than $1

 

[Juan]

Its pay tv that is dying...not satellite..nobody wants to buy a ton of channels they never watch

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[CycloneSat]

Its pay tv that is dying...not satellite..nobody wants to buy a ton of channels they never watch

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

And looks like Comcast and other companies are actually against an a la carte plan.

 

[HoTat2]

Its pay tv that is dying...not satellite..nobody wants to buy a ton of channels they never watch

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

True ...

But then the great "catch-22"3 for pay-TV to this has always been that paying for all those channels you personally don't watch keeps the cost of the few channels you do watch under control.

Otherwise without them, the cost of the few channels you do watch would skyrocket to where you'd be paying the same if not greater for a comparatively few channels you want to watch than you are now with the current pay-TV model with a bunch of channels you don't watch.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[osu1991]

That’s kind of false, many of those channels don’t need to be around. They are just filler for the owners to sell more ad time and just show a revolving 4 hr block of shows over and over instead of the channel owners actually programming a full schedule on the channels they have.

 

[HoTat2]

That’s kind of false, many of those channels don’t need to be around. They are just filler for the owners to sell more ad time and just show a revolving 4 hr block of shows over and over instead of the channel owners actually programming a full schedule on the channels they have.

But I think channels like that many would consider as "don't need to be around."

Either fall into the catagory of channels that pay DIRECTV to be on their system which indirectly helps keep prices down as additional revenue streams.

Or those channels that the major content providers demand DIRECTV carry along with their main channels as a condition for contract renewals. Or else their fee for the main channels alone would go through the roof assuming the provider would even offer it at all by itself.

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[slice1900]

If we took a poll of 100 Directv customers and asked "what channels do you consider indispensible" each person might list only about 20 channels, but the total across 100 people might be 200 or 300 channels. What I consider a useless crap channel someone else considers a must have and vice versa.

 

[HoTat2]

If we took a poll of 100 Directv customers and asked "what channels do you consider indispensible" each person might list only about 20 channels, but the total across 100 people might be 200 or 300 channels. What I consider a useless crap channel someone else considers a must have and vice versa.

Hard to believe some people would even consider the infomercial channels as indispensable ...

But I guess the producers of them wouldn't pay DIRECTV the expensive rates to carry them if there weren't any ....

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

 

[osu1991]

I doubt there is much variance after 30-40 channels. The ratings for many of these channels won't even register

 

[CSM]

Should we base it on channels or the content?

I doubt there is much variance after 30-40 channels. The ratings for many of these channels won't even register

Most-Watched Television Networks: Ranking 2018’s Winners and Losers

 

[Justy5]

We're given an alternative/ competitor to Dish and DirecTV: Now Orby is a joke? For a startup - it sounds bleek! I Wonder what the problem is?

 

[osu1991]

Should we base it on channels or the content? I like watching new

Most-Watched Television Networks: Ranking 2018’s Winners and Losers

Base it on whatever the hell you want, doesn’t matter to me. Won’t change the fact that most are sister networks among a given station group and usually only have an hour of new programming a night along with 6hrs of infomercials and an all day marathon of whatever crap is the new episode each night.

 

[Juan]

They pay to be carried...they should reduce your bill in theory

Hard to believe some people would even consider the infomercial channels as indispensable ...

But I guess the producers of them wouldn't pay DIRECTV the expensive rates to carry them if there weren't any ....

Sent from my LM-V405 using Tapatalk

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

 

[CSM]

Does AT&T want to get it down to just 5g and HBO/Max? However, if they did it that way would the channels they own go away and other providers won’t get those channels anymore.

 

[bobvick]

Its pay tv that is dying...not satellite..nobody wants to buy a ton of channels they never watch

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!

Pay TV is not dying, it is evolving, what do you think that Disney+, HBO Max, AppleTV+, Netflix, etc... are?

 

[Bruce]

Pay TV is not dying, it is evolving, what do you think that Disney+, HBO Max, AppleTV+, Netflix, etc... are?

A better way of watching Television.


Sent from my iPad using SatelliteGuys

 

[CycloneSat]

You do pay for those services, so it’s still pay TV. Free TV is mainly OTA. It’s traditional channel/schedule based television that’s dying. Once people were actually mostly happy watching what a programmer put on that time slot but something (which I believe to be channels spamming the same program for 2-4 hours straight, killing any variety) happened and now people would rather just chose what they want to watch, basically making a makeshift "channel" of their own. That and paying for channels the consumer wouldn’t watch. I believe even streaming live TV services like AT&T TV and YouTube TV will begin to suffer from this. OTA TV isn’t affected by this because it’s free and actually benefits from streaming, as some people need their locals.

 

[Juan]

Its not going away....cable is dying...VOD is emerging but much like the record and movie industry...one things go online other issues evolve....nobody makes records or cds...its all streams now....so bands focus on live performances to make money...movie theaters are opening premium dine in theaters to compete with large tvs in peoples homes....pay tv can remain expensive and continue to die or they can develope some kind of commercially supported streaming service and prosper...like pluto tv...or you can have priates take your over priced premium content and destroy your business model

Pay TV is not dying, it is evolving, what do you think that Disney+, HBO Max, AppleTV+, Netflix, etc... are?

Sent from my SM-G950U using the SatelliteGuys app!