Eh, not thrilled with the price increase but I’ll deal with it in stride. Still paying much less than I was for traditional DIRECTV three years ago and we get more channels now that have content we want to watch. I think my last traditional DIRECTV bill was $115/month for two receivers. Even at $50/month (which is what I’ll be paying after this latest price increase), DIRECTV Now is still a pretty good deal.
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DirecTV Now Raising Prices for All Plans by $10/Month Starting in April
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So at the end of 2018 DirectTv Now effectively raised their prices and lost 267,000 subscribers. So now they are raising their prices again. Are they trying to make up for all the lost revenue from raising the prices the first time? Almost sounds like what Apple has been doing. Raising prices and lossing customers then raising prices again to make up for the lost revenue.
The Apple streaming TV service can’t come soon enough. It’s time for Apple to disrupt this mess.
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Look into HDHomeRun Prime with a cablecard and the Channels app on AppleTV. You don’t have to lease cable boxes from Spectrum. They are obligated by law to provide you with a cablecard.
Not sure what they were trying to do anyway. The promo rate early adopters were given was a money loser for them. Probably just wanted Beta testers. At $10 more, they are prolly barely making any money. The problem isn't AT&T, it's the content providers. They're done, anyway. Netflix mortally wounded them. Once NFL and college football go they way of MLB and offer packages directly to the consumer, it's over.
You can almost smell the fear/panic coming from AT&T since they closed the much delayed Comcast deal (that followed the DirecTV acquisition). They are now *deep* in debt from these two media grabs, with rising interest rates, and the specter of a slowing global economy. They've made very speculative and aggressive moves, on the back of what was cheap money, and now it's coming home to roost. And they actually expect the consumer to save their ass by accepting these over-the-top price increases. Then there's the 5GE thing. I had a decent lump of their stock that I bought when the market dumped late last year. I saw the first round of price hikes, then the 5GE lie, and sold it all a month ago, fortunately of a decent profit. If you, or someone you know, has exposure to this unethical, greedy company, my advice is to run away, fast. Seriously. The next thing to go is their dividend. JMO.
Hit the road, Jack, and don’t ya come back no more, no more, no more, no more.
Hit the road, Jack, and don’t ya come back no more.
(AT&T is freaking nuts. They must be wanting to lose even more customers.)
Hit the road, Jack, and don’t ya come back no more.
(AT&T is freaking nuts. They must be wanting to lose even more customers.)
This is the price for handing out so many 'free' AppleTVs. I only subscribed to get the ATV4 and then cancelled as I care less for the actual TV.
I’m going to have a coronary.
This kind of $H!T is why I cut cable.
They know they have the market cornered with a few channels that none of the other streaming services provide. That’s why they’re being so ballsy. It’s the only way to get the scripps and Viacom channels on the same platform.
This kind of $H!T is why I cut cable.
They know they have the market cornered with a few channels that none of the other streaming services provide. That’s why they’re being so ballsy. It’s the only way to get the scripps and Viacom channels on the same platform.
I wasn't thrilled with DirecTV Now. I just started Hulu Live as they raised their prices. I'm paying $45 with Live + Hulu, but since I was already paying $12/month for the basic Hulu service, this is still worth it. Another price hike will probably kill it for me, though. I wouldn't pay $50/month for DTV Now.
So what’s stopping you know and preventing you from saving few hundreds a year?
Apparently, their plan is to keep raising prices to make up for people dropping the service, until one last sucker is paying $70 million/month. Pretty smart plan, actually.
Those of you who have Spectrum for internet, call them up and sign up for "Spectrum TV Stream". No boxes, just their app on the roku, phones, and Apple TV. It's $25 a month for the first 2 years, then goes up to $30 a month. You get a good number of channels. Link to some information: https://www.spectrum.net/support/tv/spectrum-tv-stream/. I just signed up for it, and will try it over the next couple days. Something to keep in mind, it can take a few hours before the service will start working. The rep I spoke to said 2-24 hours.
That was the majority of the reason I switched from Sling, but now I'm VERY strongly considering reactivating my subscription with them. Don't get me wrong, I'm not intolerant of price increases in general, but this is >40% in a year with no substantial gain. And there's no guarantee AT&T won't do the same within another year, perhaps pushing the bottom price to $70 by spring of 2020. For me, that's a big, "no." I don't watch that much 'standard' TV. On the other hand, I'm accepting of the Netflix price bumps (for now). However, I won't spend $50, $60, $70, ... to have a lot of content I don't want to watch and streams of those I do that are already stuffed with ads. I assume many of you are aware that at least 1/3 of a show's runtime is ads. Talk about pocket stuffing.
Anywho... I have at least until April 1 for my current DirecTV Now billing period. Therefore, I'll await Apple's potential media service announcement and check over other competitors' offers.
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Ah yes - a license fee - costs about the same as 6 weeks with cable - and for that you get quality programs and quality programming.
There are many great things in the US that we really appreciate since coming here 9 years ago. The cost of internet & TV access in the US is way out of whack with the rest of the world, and penny for penny, of a lower speed & quality.
Best thing we've done for a while is cut the cable chord except for internet - saving $170 a month, and added Britbox and Acorn to our Amazon Prime subscription for under $15 a month extra - total savings of around $155, and we get, for us, better programs.
Right. Adios, DirecTV Now! A much worse service than DirecTV, now for the same price! The DVR is a joke, & the appleTV remote and user interface are laughable.
I had DirecTV Now to get an Apple TV 4K, but ditched it because it was too expensive compared to Sling, which I have now. DTN was better, but both services suck. I think I'll be going back to Comcast because the buffering problems will cease.
When you signed up, the fine print stated the prices can and will go up with the promotional price plans.
Being grandfathered and able to stick on the old plan with the discount and HBO is still a good deal, although it has gone from $35 a month (go big discount and free HBO that first year) to now $55 ($50 go big and $5 HBO assuming that stays the same). It is still a huge savings over what I was paying for regular DirecTV with having to play for boxes for all my TVs and they still have the best sports options for me (even with the loss of ESPN3 last year).
I have no idea how they will get any new subscribers though as the new plans look awful.
I am however seriously considering dumping the rest of my ATT (T) stock.
I have no idea how they will get any new subscribers though as the new plans look awful.
I am however seriously considering dumping the rest of my ATT (T) stock.