Making television easy again. By Phillip Swann
Q. I read your article today about AT&T selling DIRECTV to Dish. Why would Dish want DIRECTV now? Aren’t they losing subscribers, too? What’s the point of buying a satellite TV service in a pandemic, particularly when the business is dying. I don’t get it. And wouldn’t the federal government block the deal anyway? —
Bankers say AT&T needs to sell DIRECTV due to the Coronavirus outbreak and accumulating company debt, according to a Fox Business report. The report does not name the bankers, nor say how many are offering this opinion. It also does not say if the bankers are communicating this position with AT&T, or if AT&T is
The AT&T-owned HBO Max is scheduled to debut next week, but as of this morning, the new streaming service will not be available on arguably the two leading streaming devices, Roku and Amazon’s Fire TV. John Stankey, AT&T’s CEO, acknowledged last week at an industry conference that HBO Max would likely not be available on
Q. I read your story about AT&T TV’s two year contract and I am really afraid of doing that. It’s a brand new thing and how do I know what it’s like?! Does it offer a free trial so I can try it out? — Gene, Toledo. Ohio. Gene, AT&T TV, which delivers programming over
Q. I was reading your story about AT&T TV and was thinking of getting it. But it has a two-year contract. Why is that? Isn’t streaming supposed to be all about cutting the cord and having some freedom? — Aimee, Suitland, Maryland. Aimee, that’s a good point. Today’s live streaming services, such as YouTube TV,
Q. Can you explain something to me? Why did AT&T abandon DIRECTV after paying all that money for it? It makes no sense to me. Why buy it if they are not going to run the business the right way? It seems like all they care about is streaming and they don’t care anything about
Q. I’ve had DIRECTV for a long time and I remember when AT&T took it over that they made a bunch of promises. Curious if they actually kept those promises. Can you look them up and see? — Teresa, Dunkirk, Maryland. Teresa, you have a great memory. On July 24, 2015, the day AT&T completed
Q. I’ve been thinking of getting AT&T TV today, but I was wondering if you need to get the AT&T set-top they offer. I don’t want to wait around for the thing to be delivered. Couldn’t I just download an app and start watching today? — Curt, St. Louis. Curt, let me first explain to
Q. I heard that you can get a cheap price now on HBO. Do you know the details? I have HBO now so is there a way for me to get it cheaper? — Gary, Scottsdale, Arizona. Gary, if you have HBO, you might want to cancel. Let me explain why. AT&T, which owns HBO,
Q. I just got a message from DIRECTV saying I will no longer get out-of-market network channels on June 1. What the Hell?! Is this AT&T’s doing again? What’s going on with this? — Ivan, Leonardtown, Maryland. DIRECTV, which is owned by AT&T, is now notifying some customers that they could lose their network TV
If you haven’t taken advantage of HBO’s free programming offer for Coronavirus shut-ins, it will end this Friday. The premium channel this month began offering 500 free hours of programming including such HBO original shows as The Sopranos, The Wire, Veep, True Blood, Six Feet Under, Ballers, Barry, Silicon Valley, and Succession (pictured). The free
Q. I read your story last week about DIRECTV losing subs again. Do you think it’s because of the Coronavirus? Everyone’s business, including mine, is taking a big hit because of the virus, right? — Hugh, Jacksonville, Florida. Hugh, AT&T last week reported that DIRECTV and U-verse combined for a net loss of 897,000 subscribers