Being that DirecTV Now is an Instant-On service, we'll see even more aggressive layoffs in 2017 and beyond as AT&T offers competitive pricing for the Over The Top ("OTT") service. On 11/30 customers will be able to sign up and have instant access to live television. Even on launch day the service looks impressive!
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The DirecTV Now streaming service will launch on Wednesday. AT&T did not say when the promotional period will end. AT&T will offer new customers a robust, solid, amazing.........free, 7-day trial, what a joke
AT&T stock was flat in after-hours trading Monday, after it revealed the details of its mobile streaming-video service.
Most of the people watch very little TV, free streaming content is kind in th land of the Dumb
Millenial here...cord cutting got me away from paying tons of money fir stuff I don't watch anyway. I get HBO, Netflix, Hulu, and NBA League pass now...I'm set. Live TV sounds awful.
@1kbn: You're right. T has spent an untold amount of money on building this "new" platform and it's a huge gamble. As an employee and shareholder, I hope it's extremely successful; as a realist, however, I know where my friends and family are going for their content online: YouTube, Netflix, Hulu and others. AT&T's price point, while understandable, is way too high, and it's launching without key features like DVR capability and they've slapped a 2-stream limit (although I suspect there will be an additional charge if and when this is changed-$5/mo for DVR, $10/mo for an extra stream, possibly?) The introductory price is a little tempting however the regular price will drive many away-it's certainly not a replacement (yet) for traditional TV-and too expensive for those who opt to subscribe to a <$15 service.
It seems at this point AT&T is stuck in the same place Microsoft was not so long ago under Steve Ballmer were they were so obsessed with catching up to apple and google that they were on a buying spree trying hard to make inroads in the hardware business and we all know how that turned out. Nokia is gone along with its employees and so are other jobs at other places acquired by MS, game studios and media studios shut down etc etc. They too claimed they were in it for content or rather the patents. Well now Ballmer is gone content with his golden parachute and MS is back to doing what it does best and being very successful at it. Let's hope AT&T gets back to doing what it does best again someday although it's getting harder to remember what that was.
@trb: That's exactly what the term "cord cutter" means - a person who cancels or forgoes a cable television subscription or landline phone connection in favor of an alternative Internet-based or wireless service. It's not necessarily about the price, but the convenience and portability of the service. My cell phone costs as much as my old landline did-I haven't saved any money-but I can take my cell phone anywhere.
The layoffs will be a result of the lack of customers subscribing to DirecTV Now. The purpose of "cord cutting" is to ELIMINATE expense from one's budget, not add one at a lower cost.
Me 2, welcome to the club
I'll ride the Copper train as long as possible....F...um
Kdx is right and I'm speaking from an (early)80s baby (which makes me gen x'er).
But again this is what happens when you get all of the "smartest guys in the room types" all very much out of the highest/savvy media consuming group and allow these fools to direct based on their flawed interpretation on where this is all going.
I've written this before but 5 years ago I asked (in a very pointed and specific way) about leveraging/creating content. Randall said "that's easy, we aren't in the content business".
Someone needs to start really paying attention to this too late to the party trend. ATT won't survive long like this.
Why would us millennials bother with AT&T's scramble-to-look-relevant-but-already-obsolete streaming service? You know it's not that people are cutting the cord and opting to then sign up to skinny bundles like Vue and sling because although those service are popular their user base is tiny and isn't even close to the total of the number of people who cut the cord and just don't pay for tv in any form period anymore. The vast majority really just don't care about broadcast live tv anymore. Does AT&T and the other telecoms know what xbmc a.k.a KODI and its other variants is? That's were everyone has gone and they aren't coming back.
The union will save our jobs
Vast majority of wire techs, UVerse techs that are left, services techs, and some prem techs kiss , your job goodbye, based on seniority of course, as per your contract,brewer OPT, since contractors took over their title, Facility tech, splicers still needed, for distribution work, overall not very good guys, sorry to report
@rwa you're right. With T investing in AirGig and this service, they really are gutting the tech workforce. AirGig will be serviced by power techs and DTV Now will be managed by vendors.
Bye bye techs, slowly but surely