Q. I’ve been a DIRECTV subscriber for many, many years, but it feels like AT&T doesn’t care about me. All I ever hear is what they are doing for DIRECTV Now. Free stuff. Lower fees. More channels. Why can’t we get more at DIRECTV? Does AT&T even care about us? — Lee, Billings, Montana.
Lee, in the last year, I’ve received countless e-mails from DIRECTV subscribers who say the same thing you just did. They say AT&T (which owns DIRECTV) is taking them for granted with the evidence being the latest juicy offer from DIRECTV Now, such as a free Apple TV, or $25 off a monthly subscription.
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For longtime satellite customers, the feeling of being overlooked gets worse when AT&T rolls out an attractive offer for new DIRECTV customers, such as $35 a month for 150 channels, plus free HBO, Cinemax, Showtime and Starz for three months.
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Why can’t existing subscribers get that offer, or a similar one? they ask. Why isn’t their loyalty being rewarded?
Many of my readers conclude that AT&T really doesn’t care about them, that it would prefer they would just switch to DIRECTV Now because it’s cheaper to deliver the product than DIRECTV. (Internet vs. costly satellites.)
My response is that AT&T does care about them, and that it truly wants to keep them as customers. If they don’t believe that, I encourage them to call DIRECTV and threaten to unsubscribe. In most cases, the DIRECTV customer rep will offer some enticement, such as free HBO or a reduced monthly bill, to keep them on board.
AT&T last week revealed DIRECTV lost 188,000 net subscribers in this year’s first quarter, which followed a loss of 147,000 net customers in the 2017 fourth quarter. Trust me, the telco doesn’t want any more DIRECTV subs to defect if they can prevent it. That’s a lot of revenue walking out the door.
So why isn’t AT&T doing more to keep DIRECTV’s customers happy, particularly the loyal subscriber who’s been with the company for years and years? Shouldn’t AT&T be calling them with better offers, and not the other way around?
The answer is absolutely yes.
Like most corporations, AT&T is taking the existing customer for granted. I’m sure it believes that exclusive features such as the NFL Sunday Ticket, and three 4K channels, are enough to keep everyone happy.
But when live streaming services, such as DIRECTV Now, are offering attractive programming packages for as little as $10 a month (for the first three months of DIRECTV Now), no exclusive feature is enough. AT&T should realize that it has to make the existing DIRECTV customer feel like he or she is more important than ever.
Why doesn’t it? I blame faulty leadership on top. I have said repeatedly that AT&T has yet to show it understands the TV audience, and nothing it’s done in the last several months has changed my view.
Television is about all about relaxing, and feeling good about yourself. But AT&T has done its best to make the existing DIRECTV subscriber feel anxious, and behind the curve, by spending so much time talking about DIRECTV Now.
If AT&T doesn’t wise up, and start taking its loyal customer base more seriously, the defection numbers will only get bigger. And Time Warner merger or no merger, AT&T’s stock will take the hit.
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At two hundred dollars in fees to DirecTV each month going out, I’m looking to cutting the cord. Fees piled on top of fees from DirectTV add up real quick. This may be the last they see of me.
This is exactly why I left them after 20 years. Although Spectrum is not that great, I am paying the same price I did with DTV for triple play. (Phone, Internet, and TV) DTV was great, but it has had its day in the sun. My prediction is that it will be phased out in the next 5 years.
DTV needs to add the NON Sports channels (DIY, Lifetime Movies, FYI, Nat Geo, OWN, Am. Country, Travel, Am. Destination, Weather, etc.) to the SELECT Package for their NON Sports Viewers.
Also need to Eliminate the HD Charge. Most Providers have dropped the HD Fee.
These inexpensive channels and the No cost HD charge might help slow the Cord Cutters.
It the could have charged low prices for satellite so they would no to have to deal with people leaving it running another service.
Keep in mind you are not cutting the cord unless you get rid of internet.
If utilizing the internet is the way to ditch getting video content, then the cable provider s may just continue to raise the cost of internet.
As a long term DirecTV & AT&T customer my bill has never been lower. Been w/ DirecTV since 2000, w AT&T since 2004, back when they were Cingular. I pay around $143.05 and get every premium movie channel, have 4K and have the brand new Genie 2 (HS17-100) mini-tower connected to three 4K genies. There is a specific department at DirecTV called “loyalty / long term retention”, you have to get transferred there after the first 2 levels of customer service, if you’ve been a customer long term they lower your prices, period, for any long term customer. Last October when we converted to 4K that $300 install & hardware upgrade was free, about a month ago when we converted to the new Genie 2 (HS17-100) mini tower, that $400 upgrade was also free. Also, my AT&T wireless has also gone down, both accounts enrolled in auto-pay saves $20 monthly and they just added the following promotional credits for being a long term customer; (cut & paste from recent DirecTV invoice)
DIRECTV Channels
1. ULTIMATE 80.99
$25 off AT&T Unlimited Plus Video Loyalty Credit
2. HBO, STARZ, SHOWTIME and CINEMAX 15.00
$17.99 off HBO with AT&T Unlimited Wireless
$7 off CINEMAX for 6 months (2 of 6)
$7 off SHOWTIME for 6 months (2 of 6)
$7 off STARZ for 6 months (2 of 6)
I was instructed to call back when the promotional credits expire to have them re-added to account.
If you are a long term customer you simply need to talk to the right department.
Another $25 credit for unlimited data across 4 cell phones, paperless billing discount and I’m still probably forgetting some additional discounts…
All I had to do was remind them, repeatedly that I was a long term customer, w/ both DirecTV & AT&T wireless, how much my two combined bills we worth to them monthly, annually etc…what an important customer we are to them etc…I was spending close to $200 just with DirecTV now I spend $143.05.
I became a DirecTV customer in 2001 and remained so until earlier this year. Prior to AT&T’s ownership, I could call and almost always receive some sort of temporary price break, free channels for a few months, even free Sunday Ticket one year. I felt like they did appreciate my business, and wanted to retain me as a customer. New customers still got great deals, but an existing customer could still get some nice breaks if they asked.
Once AT&T came into the picture it seemed to me that the existing customer base became secondary to getting new customers under the DirecTV umbrella. When I called to ask about discounts or perks, the offers I was given were no longer as good as they used to be.
I cancelled my service in January and started using Sling. The only thing I’ll miss is Sunday Ticket, but for the money I save it’s a trade I’m happy to make. I get the “come on back” emails from them, but I think they’d have to offer me a year free service before I’d even think about going back.
I have been a customer of DirecTV for 18 years. Recently they began to “upgrade” its DirecTV programs. In doing this the basic programs went haywire for example the programs on my playlist arbitrarily disappear and go into the history list. I spend hours trying to retrieve my playlist. I have called AT&T several times. They are non apologetic claiming all will be ok in a month! They have offered me nothing in return for the absolute inconvenience of long searches in the history for programs that are already in my playlist. so- I have already talked with another company and I’m cancelling my service.
I was a Directv Customer for over 20 years and loved the service and customer service, AT&T Ruined it so fast!. I called and asked if they could help on my bill 169 a month and did not offer anything. Got Dish and surprised how nice and they called and made sure everything was great and my bill was broke down before i signed up. When i call Directv to Cancel after asking 3 times before i called Dish. Then they offered to match my new bill for 24 months $64 cheaper each month and they gave me lifetime HBO also. There Loss not all people have broadband in the country there loss
I was with DTV since 1994 (24 yrs.) an I had enough. Last Nov. they started their software upgrade and its still going on. The GUI on the Genie and mini clients have are are slow and confusing to use. The extra HD charge should have been eliminated years ago, the channel selection was O.K. but not great. The reception during rain and snow was increasingly getting worse. Had enough and switched to cable with a TIVO Bolt and OTA with a Roamio.
I use the Roamio to increase my recording capacity. I am paying $70 less for 2yrs. then only going up about $30 dollars. I will be able to try streaming services with the extra $$. Will I go back to DTV, I don’t know they will have to clean up their act big time which I don’t see ever going to happen.