— the internet-delivered offshoot of DirecTV — as AT&T Now. In 2015, AT&T paid $67.1 billion to acquire DirecTV.“We have some really high expectations for this product,” Stephenson said. “We’re going to learn from the pilot, and then we’ll expand to more cities as we go through the year.”
Unlike AT&T Now, AT&T TV requires a contract. With a two-year contract, prices range from $60 to $80 a month without internet access, across five different tiers of service. Local stations are not offered in all markets as of yet. In Stephenson’s estimation, the new service is a more efficient way for the company to approach the pay-TV marketplace. “It literally takes the customer acquisition costs and cuts it in half,” he said on the earnings call. “And the beauty of that is that you can begin to address a fundamental problem with the current linear TV business, and that is the price point, but the content costs just continue to grow.
AT&T has had two high-profile carriage battles this summer, one with CBS that was resolved a few weeks ago and an ongoing standoff with Nexstar Media Group involving about 120 local TV stations in 100 markets. Like all pay-TV operators, the company has faced a squeeze due to increasing options for consumers and rising fees charged by programmers.
At the same time it is contending with flux in the distribution arena, AT&T is also continuing to digest its $81 billion acquisition of Time Warner and ramping up its entrant in the streaming wars, HBO Max.
They've blocked all channels and I have to contact them to find out I'll be charged more and have no other choice but to take it...as an ATT customer for over 10 years this is a disservice and thievery