AT&T exploring Deal to sell off DIRECTV.

[slice1900]

If ATT sells a stake in DirecTV to someone that knows what they are doing and can turn the company around, it would be a win for ATT, the partner and customers. Might allow ATT to be a little more hands off, avoiding making more bad decisions.

Just being independent again would probably help. It seems like AT&T bought it as a "means to an end" rather than because they wanted to own Directv's satellite business.

 

[Juan]

If ATT sells a stake in DirecTV to someone that knows what they are doing and can turn the company around, it would be a win for ATT, the partner and customers. Might allow ATT to be a little more hands off, avoiding making more bad decisions.

Directv is only going to last as long as its current satellite fleet lasts...nobody is going to invest money into a dying business

 

[Juan]

Just being independent again would probably help. It seems like AT&T bought it as a "means to an end" rather than because they wanted to own Directv's satellite business.

That will never happen

 

[Inclined Orbit]

Directv is only going to last as long as its current satellite fleet lasts...nobody is going to invest money into a dying business

ATTs five year plan several years ago was to "deliver all content via broadband", so at some point there should not be any satellites.

 

[slice1900]

That will never happen

What are you talking about? The rumored sale will make exactly that happen. Look up what a SPAC is, that's what would be created to operate Directv and it would be an independent company.

 

[SamCdbs]

ATTs five year plan several years ago was to "deliver all content via broadband", so at some point there should not be any satellites.

Except, of course, for the tens of millions of Americans who cannot get broadband and never will, as their rural lifestyle makes the economic delivery of such a service impossible.

Which is why satellite TV will be around for many decades to come.

 

[Juan]

What are you talking about? The rumored sale will make exactly that happen. Look up what a SPAC is, that's what would be created to operate Directv and it would be an independent company.

Then att would not own it...they are selling alot more than directv

 

[Juan]

Except, of course, for the tens of millions of Americans who cannot get broadband and never will, as their rural lifestyle makes the economic delivery of such a service impossible.

Which is why satellite TV will be around for many decades to come.

The satellites won't be...without new satellites how will it be delivered?

 

[ncted]

The satellites won't be...without new satellites how will it be delivered?

LEO broadband? Maybe? If it works as advertised.

 

[Inclined Orbit]

Except, of course, for the tens of millions of Americans who cannot get broadband and never will, as their rural lifestyle makes the economic delivery of such a service impossible.

Which is why satellite TV will be around for many decades to come.

At some point in the not too distant future this country will be saturated with broad band via fiber, 4G, 5G, 10G, whatever. Even in the most remote podunk place there will be something.

 

[Juan]

LEO broadband? Maybe? If it works as advertised.

Maybe

 

[NashGuy]

Just being independent again would probably help. It seems like AT&T bought it as a "means to an end" rather than because they wanted to own Directv's satellite business.

Yeah. The overwhelming consensus among longtime DTV customers seems to be that it went downhill in various ways after AT&T took over. So perhaps when DTV is independent again, and not a cog in a larger machine, it will be better managed and more focused on its customer base. But who knows, really.

It'll be interesting to see if the new management does anything to improve customer equipment. DTV used to be a leader in that regard but DISH has definitely jumped ahead with their Hopper and Joey line.

 

[slice1900]

Then att would not own it...they are selling alot more than directv

AT&T would own a majority share of that new company. Supposedly they are selling off Directv and Uverse TV, but not AT&T TV. I think getting rid of Uverse TV might presage them selling off some of their copper like Verizon did in areas where they don't think it would be profitable to offer fiber.

 

[Juan]

AT&T would own a majority share of that new company. Supposedly they are selling off Directv and Uverse TV, but not AT&T TV. I think getting rid of Uverse TV might presage them selling off some of their copper like Verizon did in areas where they don't think it would be profitable to offer fiber.

Have to wait until the deal is announced...it would be stupid to sell uverse and keep the cooper...hard to split...atttv is just a service that rides the internet...like netflix, hulu etc...would be more interest in that

 

[NashGuy]

Some of the recent rumors have indicated that the spin-off deal will be for all of AT&T's cable TV services, even including AT&T TV. That surprises me but maybe it's necessary since all three services rely on the same set of underlying network carriage contracts.

At any rate, it makes no sense to me for AT&T to include Uverse TV in the deal but not AT&T TV. Uverse TV has now been deprecated and is just in maintenance mode. It will eventually be shut down, it's just a matter of how much longer. Why would anyone want it? All Uverse TV customers are also AT&T Internet/Fiber customers. Even for those on slower FTTN connections, if it's fast enough to support Uverse TV, then it should also be fast enough to support AT&T TV (which needs 8 Mbps per screen for optimal HD quality).

So I don't know why AT&T doesn't just tell all their Uverse TV subs that the service will be shutting down in 6 months or so and offer incentives for them to switch over to AT&T TV. If they really wanted to hang onto them as cable TV customers, they could just waive the 2-yr contract on AT&T TV for any Uverse TV sub who had already fulfilled that service's contract.

Uverse TV customers would seem like the lowest hanging fruit for conversion to AT&T TV if the company is serious about growing that service's subscriber base. But at this point, I'm not sure if they really care about much in terms of video other than HBO Max...

 

[slice1900]

Telling people you are discontinuing their service causes many to investigate alternatives rather than simply converting to the replacement. Especially since the replacement won't be identical, with a new interface, some differences in channels, etc.

 

[Juan]

Some of the recent rumors have indicated that the spin-off deal will be for all of AT&T's cable TV services, even including AT&T TV. That surprises me but maybe it's necessary since all three services rely on the same set of underlying network carriage contracts.

At any rate, it makes no sense to me for AT&T to include Uverse TV in the deal but not AT&T TV. Uverse TV has now been deprecated and is just in maintenance mode. It will eventually be shut down, it's just a matter of how much longer. Why would anyone want it? All Uverse TV customers are also AT&T Internet/Fiber customers. Even for those on slower FTTN connections, if it's fast enough to support Uverse TV, then it should also be fast enough to support AT&T TV (which needs 8 Mbps per screen for optimal HD quality).

So I don't know why AT&T doesn't just tell all their Uverse TV subs that the service will be shutting down in 6 months or so and offer incentives for them to switch over to AT&T TV. If they really wanted to hang onto them as cable TV customers, they could just waive the 2-yr contract on AT&T TV for any Uverse TV sub who had already fulfilled that service's contract.

Uverse TV customers would seem like the lowest hanging fruit for conversion to AT&T TV if the company is serious about growing that service's subscriber base. But at this point, I'm not sure if they really care about much in terms of video other than HBO Max...

Because of BPU regulations...telco cannot just discontinue services...they need regulatory approval

 

[CSM]

Amazon Gets One Step Closer to Launching Satellite Internet Service | Cord Cutters News

 

[Juan]

Amazon Gets One Step Closer to Launching Satellite Internet Service | Cord Cutters News

Amazon will invest over $10 billion in its satellite internet network after receiving FCC authorization

The Federal Communications Commission declared on Thursday that Amazon may build its ambitious satellite internet system.

www.cnbc.com

 

[CSM]

Could DTV's satellite's be used for Internet only? What if the Private Equity Firm sold parts of DTV to other companies? Amazon's satellite's will use the KA band.