Q. It seems like AT&T is done with DIRECTV. So do you think it’s a good time to cancel DIRECTV and get AT&T TV? AT&T seems like they care about AT&T TV right now, but not DIRECTV. What do you think? — Nancy, Easton, Maryland.
Nancy, I agree that AT&T is looking to either sell DIRECTV or dramatically reduce its time and investment in the once-powerful TV service. The telco clearly believes that satellite TV has a limited future.
This is why AT&T launched AT&T TV, an Internet-based service that’s designed to be an alternative to DIRECTV. AT&T executives think that today’s consumers prefer a TV service that’s easier to manage and use. (Translation: You don’t need to install a dish.) With either an AT&T-provided set-top, or another streaming device, AT&T says AT&T TV allows you to watch live channels no matter where you live or where you are.
Of course, that’s not helpful to the millions of Americans who don’t have a reliable Internet service in their areas. But AT&T is more interested now in providing TV to everyone else. For rural Americans, there’s still DIRECTV. And if AT&T no longer owns DIRECTV in the coming months, they’re okay with that.
Considering that AT&T is likely to invest more in AT&T TV than DIRECTV, I was asked last April here if it would be wise to drop the satellite service in favor of the new streaming venture. My answer is basically the same, with a few notable exceptions:
Plus:
AT&T TV’s promotional prices, which now start at $59.99 a month, are $5 a month less than DIRECTV. $5 a month isn’t much, but it’s better than nothing.
Negative:
However, like DIRECTV’s promotional plans, AT&T TV requires a two-year agreement for the first-year promo prices, and monthly fees roughly double in year two. (And, like DIRECTV, you must pay a cancellation fee for every month left in the two-year deal if you leave early. AT&T TV charges $15 a month if you cancel while DIRECTV requires a $20 a month penalty.)
Plus:
There’s no dish. That’s a big plus for consumers whose homes do not have an unobscured view of the southern sky, which DIRECTV requires.
Negative
AT&T TV has fewer channels than DIRECTV. For example, the AT&T TV Choice package, which costs $64.99 a month, features 90 channels while DIRECTV’s Choice plan, which costs $69.99 a month, has 185 channels.
Negative
AT&T TV does not have the NFL Sunday Ticket, which is still a DIRECTV exclusive in the pay TV category.
Negative
AT&T TV requires a decent Internet connection, which, again, is bad news for many rural residents.
Plus
AT&T will devote more resources to AT&T TV in the coming months, if not years. (You can’t project too far ahead with AT&T.) That means better technology and features.
Plus
Since my article in April, AT&T TV has added several regional sports channels, including Marquee Sports Network, MASN and the AT&T-branded regionals. DIRECTV has had these for some time, but now AT&T TV is on par with its sister service when it comes to RSNs.
Bottom line: The decision is yours, but in my view, the argument for switching is not particularly strong. Perhaps AT&T will further bolster AT&T TV’s lineup and feature base at some point. But as of now, you will lose some significant programming and features if you drop DIRECTV.
Nancy, hope that helps. Happy viewing, and stay safe!
Have a question about new TV technologies? Send it to The TV Answer Man at swann@tvpredictions.com. Please include your first name and hometown in your message.
— Phillip Swann
“NANCY” is THE “typical” customer AT&T LOVES !!!
(can’t “decide” on her on what time of day it is with out help !!)
AT&T will N-O-T be in the INTERNET OR TV business much longer…they can N-o-T compete as they have NO IDEA what they are doing AND…they are out gunned and out numbered with MANY SUPERIOR competitors !!
AT&T is FINISHED !!
Agreed
AT&T has NO customer service any more.
The problem still is that millions of full time RVers and people in rural areas of the country have been totally screwed by AT&T. Talking with a customer service agent is like talking to a brick wall. I would not have anything that was attached to AT&T due to their business practices. They have totally screwed a huge part of the American public. DirecTV was the best TV service on earth and AT&T single handedly destroyed that. I had their internet service at our winter home and the internet was so bad you could not watch TV…
Agree with all you said,
except the Brick wall part.
It is More like a SOLID PLATE of STEEL
As a U-Verse subscriber (bundled with AT&T internet and phone), when the day comes that AT&T kills it, I would much rather switch to DirecTV than to AT&T TV. Reasons: AT&T TV charges too much for fewer channels (and some of my favorite channels are the ones missing)…there is a practical limit to number of TVs streaming and/or DVR recordings going on simultaneously that could cause buffering or loss of “signal” for lack of a better term…I understand DVR recordings automatically delete after one month, and sooner if they are viewed, so you can’t keep any recordings indefinitely like you can with cable/satellite…and, realistically, I don’t think streaming tech is mature enough yet to truly replace cable or satellite… it’s still about a decade away.
We do not live in a rural area. We have atttv we have had nothing but trouble Keeps stopping in middle of programs. Message says your program is still loading. At least every 10 minutes. Worst move we ever made
Just a FYI if you do decide to cancel one and switch they are still part of att so you don’t have to pay the early termination and penalty fees due to the fact that you’re staying within the AT&t family
I tried to renew my subscription with att, was on the phone for almost 2 hours.
They wanted social security number, drivers license number, ask 3 times through process. Made my wife and I very UNCORFORTBLE! When we asked to speak to supervisor, she hung up. Terrible Ordeal!
No thanks Att tv now!
Sincerely, Disappointet
If it says AT&T run! I had At&t uverse, it was great, then they bought Direct tv and uverse sucked, now they are on to something else and direct tv sucks, they don’t care about their customers just their customers money!
The answer is no. AT&T is terrible. We have Directv for thr NFL Sunday ticket. My daughter had U-verse, they forced her to AT&T tv. She has had nothing but trouble. Currently, Vizio tv are not able to btoadcast AT&T TV. Ws have had Directv for 25 years and love it. The customer service went doen hill when AT&T bought them out, but still have a satisfactory experience. But AT&T TV is nothing but ovepriced, poorly serviced experience. She is locked into for 2 years
She is using You Tube TV and finds the channel selection and quality much better.
Stay with Directv, ATT TV is a scam unless you have fiber. Normal ATT home internet is not strong enough. Delays on live programming are 30-45 seconds which is normal for streaming but not good for live sports. Even Directv’s 5-10 sec lag can be irritating. Get minimal Directv and add a Roku or other movie streaming service.
Of course you have to pay for marquee network as it was not added too the regional sports networks as they want too charge you as much as possible
Why would anyone want anything to do with ATT? They screw up everything they touch.
I will be going to DISH when Directv dies. We have power outages so you can’t rely on streaming. Satellite works great when you have a generator.
At&T has discontinued channels without other options and not helpful. I am not impressed.
I switched from Dish to Directv I should have stuck with Dish! At &T are a terrible company to deal with!
AT&T is managed by the folks that broke Sears. Took a good phone company and abandoned the core product forcing me to VOIP on a ragged DSL. If it wasn’t for Verizon I couldn’t call to tell them it’s broken, still, again. They had 6 month warning about traffic with ‘The Virus.’ Tried to sell me Uvers then tell me I’m too far from the box. I can throw a rock and hit an AT&T box but that’s not my box. Went with AT&T after Comicast changed my bank routing number and bounced my payments. After figuring it out they didn’t fix it, they cut my service. Only the corrupt bureaucracy in IL keeps it like this.
ATT TV NOW NEEDS TOO GET NFL PACKAGE..PEOPLE MIGHT SWITCH TOO A DIFFERENT PROGRAM..
AT&T TV doesn’t have 4k channels like DirecTv. There you can rent/buy 4k HDR movies. Also they have free 4k live sports and 4K channel. They look great on 75 in. TV.
I like Directv and staying with them
Why no mention of AT&T U-verse which I still have.
We’ve been on AT&T TV since spring.
Compared to Uverse and TIVO, it’s like going back in time. It isn’t user friendly and lacks sophistication. Free HBO for a year and lower cost make it appealing for one year. We’ll probably buy out and cut the cord in 2021.
If you are currently enrolled in a tangled AT&T wireless/directv plan and want to royally F your billing up — go ahead and swap from DTV to AttTv
I love AT&T TV but for no NFL or NFL RedZone. I’m forced to go back to SlingTV that does have these in the plan plus Sports package for $10 extra 😟
I have AT&T TV 4 boxes and was never told that I was going to be paying $120.00 per box and I have 4 , the DVR services SUCK because when you go to watch your show you get a message that say” we’re aware of this issue and are working to resolve it” and when you call in about it they don’t know what to do Other than to tell you that you can watch free on demand or they can put your number down on a list of other numbers that your problem will get escalated once there is a solution to resolve it and mind you your name and number go on the list with all the other people that are having the same problem. If I wanted to see on demand I would pay for CBS all access or whatever other channel I wanted to watch. If you’re watching something that you’ve been watching from the beginning and you want to record it it starts at the moment you push the record button not at the beginning of the show so if I had to do this all over again when I choose AT&T TV no never.
I’ve had experience with AT&T ‘s previous effort here “DirecTV Now”. It was awful. The interface, the controls, the cloud “DVR” – all just utter garbage. Compare it to YouTube TV or Hulu and you’ll see how streaming is supposed to be done. Trust AT&T to make an absolute hash of anything it touches.
Also, those that choose streaming over cable/satellite – be careful about bandwidth consumption and any limits your Internet provider has. Some of these streaming services are buggy and sometimes you are streaming even if you think you’re not. 1 TB from Comcast sounds like a lot – until you hit that in less than a month because something was streaming away all day, all night, every day. 🙁
Generally, I despise AT&T pricing and customer service. We’ll have a little discussion in late October. I will tell them I’m getting ready to leave and they will either offer me (again) a fantastic discount on DirecTV for the next year or I’ll kick them to the curb. Either answer is fine and I think they can tell it in my voice.
When I have that discussion (this will be 3rd year of having that discussion), I always have a current Dish brochure in front of me so that they are under no illusions about brand loyalty to AT&T. In fact, I would probably pay a few dollars a month more for the exact same thing – just to *not* deal with AT&T – assuming my alternate choice had halfway decent customer Service, like the old DirecTV (pre – AT&T did). I really feel that way and I let them know it as well.
So, no I would recommend you have as little to do with AT&T as you can manage, unless the price is simply fantastic. Their pricing is crazy hard to work with and customer service is far and away the worst I’ve ever had. I can’t imagine moving from DirecTV to their streaming will be a happy change for you.
I love DTV and not switching!
Cancelled DirecTV. Then they tell me Internet will go from $80 to $116 a month since I was no longer a bundle. Went to YouTube TV and very happy. Called AT&T Internet and told them I was going to Xfinity on the first day they raise my price. My 1GB AT&Tfiber is now $70/month.
Canxed my DirecTv which I had for 5 months less than the 2 year contract, paid the penalty no prob then I switched to the monthly AT&T TV Now service, $80/mo including my sports package and that is all we needed…local news and sports. We have the top tier COX internet service so hardly any dropped streaming even if we have 10 people using the internet at the same time….AT&T TV Now, Netflix….Amazon Prime….all we need.
Also you can only have 3 stream on AT&T tv playing at one time until like dtv you can have up to 8 on a genie 2
I am still with them
We are definitely moving towards streaming but you don’t lose any channels on AT&T vs directv except for the music choice channels and infomercial channels which is a plus. Btw AT&T is primarily a wireless company. So no matter what happens with TV AT&T is not going anywhere. N definitely not going anywhere with internet. In fact internet cus are growing faster than any company out there. Do your research! N customer service isn’t what it use to be bc of outsourcing jobs to foreign countries! Blame your previous government!! (Coming from a long time ATT EMPLOYEE)
Seems like the only advantage ATT has is if you’re restricted from having a dish or obscured line of site.
Price? Barely negligible, price per channel actually higher with ATT.
Portability? Only if you want to Chromecast…at least when it was DTVNOW, not sure if ATT app has cast personally. DTV is more portable for RV folks especially if fast Internet isn’t available where they stop. An inexpensive android box loaded with DTV app eliminates the Chromecast issue and connects to any HDMI tv…even hotels. Can’t Chromecast ATT in a hotel unless you bring a personal Hotspot or have a laptop to create a virtual router.
Have had various ATT products over the years and either been disappointed and/or abandoned by ATT when they lost interest just like they have and are doing now since acquiring DTV…hello DTVNOW, now ATT TV, and splitting from DTV. Anyone remember ATT Broadband TV ATTBI back in the 90’s/early 00’s?