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AT&T CEO: DirecTV Now Streaming Service Will Cost $35 a Month (variety.com)
AT&T's upcoming DirecTV Now streaming service is going to cost $35 a month, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said during a panel at the Wall Street Journal's WSJD Live conference. The package wlll include over 100 channels, he added. From a Variety report: This price point is a significant departure from the company's previous stance, when it suggested that it would launch a premium product that wasn't looking to undercut existing pay TV services. Stephenson argued that it can afford this lower price point because DirecTV Now doesn't require operator-owned set-top boxes, satellite dishes, and customer service home visits. AT&T is set to launch DirecTV Now next month. The service will include channels from cablers like A+E Networks and Scripps, as well as broadcasters like Fox and NBCUniversal.
it's a limited live streaming service, not a replacement for cable or satellite television... especially cable + homerun or tivo....
and one that violates the very essence of net neutrality with at&t zero-rating this service's data on its own internet plans.
this is exactly why internet providers should ONLY BE internet providers.. not content providers, telephone companies, cable or streaming or satellite tv companies, etc etc etc.
if we agree to let AT&T spy on us ?
This is just silliness. The trend is very much toward being able to pick and choose what shows we want to watch, when we want to watch them. Preferably commercial-free. (I pay don't even mind paying for commercial-free content, I already pay Hulu the extra $4/mo.)
The idea of 'channels', 'stations', 'broadcasters', and someone else picking out the programming we might be interested in going the way of the floppy drive. Telling someone like me you're offering 100 channels is nonsense and useless information. I'm more interested in what programming/content there will be to choose from, and if I can't choose, not going to subscribe, end of story.
Bad business choice on AT&T's part. Will never make money. Will definitely not lure 'cable cutters.' We're a whole new breed of content consumer, unlike the cable-television junkie of old.
I would rather not have net neutrality and be given the option of buying from my provider "a la carte" channel packages which do NOT count against my data usage. You just want unlimited data for downloading warez.
Just hope you never plan on using any content provider outside of your ISP's sphere of control, in that case. Cuz they will make competing services unusable on their networks without net neutrality. You do know that, right? Can't see that hole you're digging? Get the hell out of it then.
Your tech support call would go something this:
Me: I'm having trouble getting netflix to work.
Them: Sorry sir, it must be a problem with netflix, we can't help you. We can however sell you a new subscription to our guaranteed to work streaming service that's not as good as netflix, but it'll stream very good for you, because we're throttling netflix into the dirt so everyone uses our services instead! You could try another internet provider, oh, sorry, we're the only one in this area cuz we bought all our competitors.
Welcome to the world of no net neutrality.