Making television easy again. By Phillip Swann
Dish Chairman Charlie Ergen today said a merger between his company and DIRECTV is “inevitable.” Speaking to financial analysts following Dish’s release of its fourth quarter report, Ergen noted that the pay TV industry has lost millions of subscribers in the last few years due to rising subscriber fees caused by escalating programming costs. “The
Q. Do you think AT&T TV, the so-called DIRECTV replacement, is the answer for AT&T? Do you think it will be a successful replacement for DIRECTV? And what does it offer that’s any better than DIRECTV if I was going to replace one with the other? — Abbie, Abilene, Texas. Abbie, as you may know,
Q. I am so mad right now. I read your post about DIRECTV cutting prices for new customers, but what about us, the people who have had DIRECTV for years. When will we ever get a break? I am so fed up with these people!! — Stacey, Laurel, Maryland. Stacey, you’re right. AT&T, which owns
AT&T, which lost roughly four million TV subscribers in 2019, has quietly dropped the price for new subscribers to its two leading TV services, DIRECTV and U-verse. New subscribers to DIRECTV can now pay $49.99 a month for the first year of its Select plan (155 channels), compared to $59.99 previously; $59.99 a month for
Q. I’ve been reading your stories on DIRECTV and AT&T and how they are losing subscribers. Thank you for writing them. I have found it interesting that many customers are complaining about DIRECTV’s customer service team being unable to speak English very well. I have found that to be the case, too. It seems like
AT&T’s DIRECTV has lost more than four million subscribers since the telco giant purchased the satcaster in 2015. (The TV service had 20.2 million at the time of the takeover, but now is around 16 million.) In the last week, I have written two stories detailing some of the issues causing the defections, and laying
Q. I read your article about AT&T losing so many DIRECTV customers. What do you think they should do to make the service better? Or they should just get rid of it and move on? What do you think AT&T should do with DIRECTV? — Monica, Reno, Nevada. Monica, what a great question that is!
DIRECTV and U-verse have lost roughly six million subscribers since AT&T took control of the satcaster in the second quarter of 2015. The satellite service had 20.2 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter five years ago. U-verse, which was owned by AT&T prior to the company’s July 2015 purchase of DIRECTV, had
Q. I went to sign up today for AT&T TV Now on my Roku Premiere and I couldn’t find it. I thought it was on Roku. After all, it’s only the biggest streaming device out there. What’s the deal, TV Answer Man? — Eddie, Biloxi, Mississippi. Eddie, I have to inform you that as of
Q. I read your article about DIRECTV raising prices again and my question is why, why, why?!! They do this every year. Don’t they understand that many of us are fed up and might cut the cord? — Tom, Gaithersburg, Maryland. Tom, you’re right. AT&T, which owns DIRECTV, has revealed that, starting next month, it’s
Q. I keep getting buffering while I try to watch AT&T TV Now (formerly DIRECTV Now. Why is that? I thought streaming was the future? I don’t have any problems with Netflix and Hulu. — Claire, Milwaukee. Claire, streaming from services such as Netflix and Hulu may be the future of television. But live streaming
AT&T and Northwest Broadcasting have announced they’ve ended their nearly eight-month old carriage dispute, which means 20 Northwest-owned local stations can now return to the AT&T-owned DIRECTV, U-verse and AT&T TV Now. The three TV services lost the Northwest stations on February 22 when AT&T and Northwest could not reach a new programming agreement. (Northwest