Interesting. Didn't realize this was going on. I have heard lots of complaints locally about TWC. Those unhappy switched to UV. Now it's going away? They'll be pushed to satellite. Don't have FiOS here.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...-toward-directv
Quote:
AT&T Inc. is phasing out the U-verse TV service as it pushes new customers to newly acquired DirecTV, a sign the company is giving up on once-heralded plans to compete head-on with cable through telephone lines.
The biggest U.S. pay TV provider has stopped building U-verse set-top boxes and is nudging prospective customers toward its satellite unit, which has lower hardware and programming costs. The shift is the first stage of a plan to create a “home gateway” within three years that will consolidate all AT&T services and act as a central hub to deliver video to any device.
Quote:
The de-emphasis of U-verse underscores AT&T’s promise to squeeze $2.5 billion in annual cost savings from its purchase of DirecTV last year. The provider is under pressure to improve profit margins amid a wireless price war. It also faces $22 billion in capital spending, an estimated $10.6 billion cost to acquire new airwaves, about $6.5 billion in debt maturities and an $11 billion dividend this year, all while working to improve its credit rating.
Current U-verse subscribers will be able to retain the service, and AT&T is even offering new promotions to those who keep it. But new customers are being directed by its marketing department to choose the satellite package.
Fleeing Customers
The shift to DirecTV was reflected in fourth-quarter results. U-verse subscribers fell 4 percent, the worst loss ever, as 240,000 customers canceled service, the company said. And while DirecTV gains of 214,000 customers almost offset the loss, U-verse defectors helped pump up cable TV growth. Comcast Corp. had its biggest user gain in eight years.
AT&T says that while it’s focusing on DirecTV, it isn’t shutting down U-verse.
“To realize the many benefits of our DirecTV acquisition, we are leading our video marketing approach with DirecTV,” said Brad Burns, an AT&T spokesman. “However, our first priority is to listen to our customers and meet their needs, and if we determine a customer will be better served with the U-verse product, we offer attractive and compelling options.”
Unlike FiOS, which connected homes with super-fast fiber-optic lines, U-verse took a lower-cost approach by taking fiber cables to a neighborhood and then connecting them to existing copper lines that reach into homes.
This makes me wonder if my ADSL rates will be escalating in the future:
Quote:
With DirecTV, AT&T gets a national TV offering and lower programming costs. DirecTV’s 20 million subscribers give the parent company greater leverage in negotiations with media companies at a time of rising programming fees. Content costs are about $17 a month higher for U-verse customers than for DirecTV subscribers, Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said at an investor conference in November.
“The lower content costs makes DirecTV customers more profitable,” said Jennifer Fritzsche, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities LLC. And if the TV feed can move to satellite, it takes the data traffic load off the U-verse broadband pipe, she said. “Then AT&T can sell faster broadband speeds for higher prices.”
Watch out! Here comes GIGAPOWER:
Quote:
AT&T is hoping to combine its services -- Internet, satellite TV and wireless -- into one home device. As a potential part of that plan, the company is investing in GigaPower, a direct fiber-to-the home connection targeting 38 cities in 20 states. Because not all homes will get fiber, AT&T is developing a single-layer multipurpose hub that will use various inputs to send Web-based streaming video, on-demand shows and live programs to home TVs and mobile devices.
Yeah, right.....
Giga is so 90's.....call me when you offer TERRAPOWER....
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...-toward-directv
Quote:
AT&T Inc. is phasing out the U-verse TV service as it pushes new customers to newly acquired DirecTV, a sign the company is giving up on once-heralded plans to compete head-on with cable through telephone lines.
The biggest U.S. pay TV provider has stopped building U-verse set-top boxes and is nudging prospective customers toward its satellite unit, which has lower hardware and programming costs. The shift is the first stage of a plan to create a “home gateway” within three years that will consolidate all AT&T services and act as a central hub to deliver video to any device.
Quote:
The de-emphasis of U-verse underscores AT&T’s promise to squeeze $2.5 billion in annual cost savings from its purchase of DirecTV last year. The provider is under pressure to improve profit margins amid a wireless price war. It also faces $22 billion in capital spending, an estimated $10.6 billion cost to acquire new airwaves, about $6.5 billion in debt maturities and an $11 billion dividend this year, all while working to improve its credit rating.
Current U-verse subscribers will be able to retain the service, and AT&T is even offering new promotions to those who keep it. But new customers are being directed by its marketing department to choose the satellite package.
Fleeing Customers
The shift to DirecTV was reflected in fourth-quarter results. U-verse subscribers fell 4 percent, the worst loss ever, as 240,000 customers canceled service, the company said. And while DirecTV gains of 214,000 customers almost offset the loss, U-verse defectors helped pump up cable TV growth. Comcast Corp. had its biggest user gain in eight years.
AT&T says that while it’s focusing on DirecTV, it isn’t shutting down U-verse.
“To realize the many benefits of our DirecTV acquisition, we are leading our video marketing approach with DirecTV,” said Brad Burns, an AT&T spokesman. “However, our first priority is to listen to our customers and meet their needs, and if we determine a customer will be better served with the U-verse product, we offer attractive and compelling options.”
Unlike FiOS, which connected homes with super-fast fiber-optic lines, U-verse took a lower-cost approach by taking fiber cables to a neighborhood and then connecting them to existing copper lines that reach into homes.
This makes me wonder if my ADSL rates will be escalating in the future:
Quote:
With DirecTV, AT&T gets a national TV offering and lower programming costs. DirecTV’s 20 million subscribers give the parent company greater leverage in negotiations with media companies at a time of rising programming fees. Content costs are about $17 a month higher for U-verse customers than for DirecTV subscribers, Chief Financial Officer John Stephens said at an investor conference in November.
“The lower content costs makes DirecTV customers more profitable,” said Jennifer Fritzsche, an analyst with Wells Fargo Securities LLC. And if the TV feed can move to satellite, it takes the data traffic load off the U-verse broadband pipe, she said. “Then AT&T can sell faster broadband speeds for higher prices.”
Watch out! Here comes GIGAPOWER:
Quote:
AT&T is hoping to combine its services -- Internet, satellite TV and wireless -- into one home device. As a potential part of that plan, the company is investing in GigaPower, a direct fiber-to-the home connection targeting 38 cities in 20 states. Because not all homes will get fiber, AT&T is developing a single-layer multipurpose hub that will use various inputs to send Web-based streaming video, on-demand shows and live programs to home TVs and mobile devices.
Yeah, right.....
Giga is so 90's.....call me when you offer TERRAPOWER....
