They probably figured that DirecTV Now was cannibalizing its main service DirecTV, and was also losing large amounts of money. The updated strategy is to make the DirecTV packages available over the Internet as well as satellite, and DTV Now will be put on the back burner. Dish and Sling TV have got to be very happy with this development.
The OFFICIAL DISH / HBO Thread
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They do but if you stay with your older packs and you were getting HBO for just $5.00 , you will now pay the extra $10.00 a month to keep it that way.
Something must be happening financially over there. The HBO CEO steps down. Then the Directs prices go up and the free HBO goes away. AT&T must have upped their quota.
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AT&T is $171 BILLION dollars in debt since they went on an acquisition spree. Mind boggling!
I see it a little differently than some have posted. First, the new DirecTV now packages that have risen by $10 in cost and may have less channels, but inlcude HBO further shows they had no real interest in DISH having HBO unless DISH ended up paying much more for it.
Second, I would say subscriptions for HBO overall had declined enough and/or the discounts they had to give from time to time made it that money to operate - or at least profit margins - were too low either actually or at least for At&t investors. Thus the shake up.
Third, their solution? Give no choice you must get HBO and we will make it seem like a good deal for $10 added to the package. Very similar to what they wanted DISH to do with subscription quotas.
Fourth, very risky.
So AT&T is now treating HBO like Disney does ESPN — you get to pay for our “premium” channel as part of any package, and you're going to love it!
Apparently they also aren't going to carry Discovery, AMC or Viacom channels:
https://www.multichannel.com/news/discovery-amc-viacom-shares-hit-hard-amid-directv-now-changes
https://www.multichannel.com/news/discovery-amc-viacom-shares-hit-hard-amid-directv-now-changes
Worse. I heard they even got rid of HGTV. There goes the 29-54 female demographic.
I'd give up HBO before AMC. Big mistake.
"Discovery’s portfolio of premium brands includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, Turbo/Velocity, Animal Planet, and Science Channel, as well as OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in the U.S."
That's a bunch of good channels they won't be offering. Add to that the AMC channels and all the Viacom channels and there's going to be a big hole in their programming.
But the Multichannel.com article says it only affects DirecTV online. Sling is the last one left of the big 5 online services to still offer Viacom channels online.
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Yup, like was discussed this relates to DirecTV Now at this time. AT&T has announced that their future plans for DirecTV is to do away with the satellite service completely and replace it with an IP service based on DirecTV Now so if this is what they have in mind for the future it doesn't look very good for them.
That doesn't make me want to use their online service instead of their satellite service. Rhetorically, since I'm not a subscriber of either.
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Let them keep shooting and send all their customers to DISH.It seems like they're shooting themselves in the foot with a machine gun.
Since Direct Now has gone up to $50 for their cheapest package and they are offering their tiny Direct package via streaming for $93. It does look like AT&T is trying to destroy Direct TV. But maybe they want everyone to move to AT&T streaming. But Dish may get a lot of new customers because of this.
People who were paying only $5 for HBO are grandfathered in at that price. But if they drop HBO and add it again, it will be $15.
