AT&T has confirmed that DIRECTV Now’s introductory price of $35 a month for 100 plus channels will end on January 9, 2017. After that, the ‘Go Big’ package will return to the normal price of $60 a month.
In an e-mail to TVPredictions.com, the telco today issued the following statement:
“We want to let our potential DIRECTV Now customers know our limited-time pricing on the ‘Go Big’ package ($35 a month for 100 channels) will end Monday, Jan. 9. Any current DIRECTV Now customers, and those who sign up before the promotion ends, will stay at the special price of $35 for ‘Go Big’ package…Customers who sign up for this offer will continue to enjoy this special price for as long as they keep the package, subject only to future reasonable programming price increases applicable to all packages.”
AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said prior to the November 30 launch of DIRECTV Now that the streaming service would cost just $35 a month. However, when AT&T actually unveiled details of the service on November 28 in New York, the company revealed that the $35 a month plan was just an introductory offer.
The telco did not say how long the introductory offer would last until now.
Once the introductory offer is over, it will be interesting to see if the new price for 100 plus channels will have an impact on DIRECTV Now’s subscription effort. The new least expensive plan, called ‘Live a Little,’ will only provide 60 channels for $35 a month, and some pay TV subscribers may think that’s not enough programming to persuade them to switch.
Plus, the Net TV service has been hammered with multiple technical errors since its launch, including false blackouts of NFL games and two major outages.
However, AT&T remains upbeat that DIRECTV Now can be a serious alternative to traditional pay TV services, including its own satellite version of DIRECTV as well as AT&T’s Uverse TV service.
DIRECTV Now’s decision to end the introductory offer on January 9 was first reported by Cord Cutters News.
— Phillip Swann
