Directv Prices Again Amid Customer Losses

DirecTV price hikes —

AT&T raises DirecTV prices again among customer losses and possible auction

AT&T TV users already pay $130 a month. Increases of up to $9 coming in January.

Enlarge / A DirecTV satellite dish seen outside a bar in Portland, Oregon, in Oct 2019.

AT&T has announced another round of toll hikes for DirecTV satellite and U-verse Tv services, with monthly prices set to rise upwardly to $9 starting January 17, 2021.

"Due to increased programming costs, nosotros're adjusting the price of our video packages," AT&T said in a observe on its website. "Periodically, TV network owners increase the fees they accuse DirecTV for the correct to broadcast their movies, shows, and sporting events." Of form, AT&T itself determines some of these programming prices because information technology owns Time Warner.

A $5 monthly increase is coming to DirecTV'due south 160-channel "Entertainment" package, which currently has a standard rate of $97 a month. A $7 monthly increase is coming to the 185-channel Choice package, currently at $115 a month. A $9 increase is coming to both the 250-channel Ultimate package (currently $142) and the 330-aqueduct Premier bundle (currently $197).

New customers tin can get those packages for $64.99 to $134.99 under promotional pricing that expires after 12 months. "If yous currently accept a DirecTV Tv set promotion, you'll keep that disbelieve until information technology expires," AT&T said. "In one case your promo menses ends, y'all'll pay the new toll for your package."

There are also $1 and $3 increases for DirecTV's Basic and Preferred Selection packages for international customers, $vi increases for certain Spanish-language packages, and $8 increases for "Xtra" packages. Only the Minimum service, Family unit, and ChineseDirect Plus plans are not getting increases.

AT&T is raising U-verse Television set prices by $five to $9 a month depending on the package, while keeping the price of the near bones U-verse packet the same. U-poetry provides TV over AT&T's wired network. As with DirecTV, customers on U-verse promotional pricing won't meet the increase until the promotional period ends.

New fee, and some price cuts

DirecTV is also calculation a "Federal Cost Recovery Fee of $0.19 per month," like to a fee that used to exist charged in one case per year. Despite the proper noun, the fee is not mandated by the government. AT&T said the fee covers "expenses that DirecTV pays to the Federal Communications Commission."

While this fee is starting small, AT&T has a history of sneakily raising overall prices by adding new fees and then steadily raising them through the years. The Federal Price Recovery Fee will be charged in addition to a number of other fees that AT&T excludes from listed prices so that information technology tin can annunciate lower prices than information technology actually charges.

On the plus side, AT&T'south annunciation did non include whatever increases for the Regional Sports Network (RSN) and Broadcast Television fees, which were both raised a year ago. When contacted past Ars today, AT&T confirmed that the "RSN fees and broadcast fees remain unchanged."

Believe information technology or not, AT&T says it is decreasing the price of some premium channels. That includes $iii decreases for Starz, Cinemax, and Showtime. There are also decreases of up to $3 for certain add-on bundles that include sports channels. But even with premium channels, there are some price increases, including a $2.96 boost to an add-on bundle that includes HBO Max, Starz, Starting time, Cinemax, and a sports-channel pack. Again, the full list of price changes tin be found at this link.

Epic customer losses, pending auction

Goggle box bills can vary wildly depending on the base bundle, add-on channels, and promotional pricing. AT&T charges an average of $130.55 per customer each month on DirecTV and its other premium Television receiver services.

AT&T'due south client base has declined dramatically due to toll increases, reduced apply of promotional deals, and competition from cheaper streaming services. AT&T currently has 17.1 one thousand thousand Premium TV customers, downward from over 25 million in early 2017. That category includes DirecTV satellite, U-verse, and the newer AT&T TV online service, which mimics cable TV with hidden fees, contracts, and big second-yr price hikes.

AT&T has been seeking a buyer for DirecTV, and the offers reportedly value the satellite subsidiary at less than $16 billion—about a tertiary of the $49 billion AT&T paid for the company in 2015. I possible deal would have AT&T retain majority ownership while another company takes over pay-TV operations for both DirecTV and U-verse. Every bit CNBC reported this month, AT&T is in talks with individual-equity firms "to sell a pregnant minority stake... in its pay-TV businesses in a complicated transaction that would shift legacy avails off the wireless carrier's balance sheet."

"Under the terms of the proposed deal, AT&T would retain bulk economic ownership of the businesses and would maintain ownership of U-poetry infrastructure, including plants and fiber," CNBC wrote, citing unnamed sources. "The buyer would control the pay-Television set distribution operations and consolidate the business on its books."

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Source: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2020/11/att-raises-directv-prices-again-amid-customer-losses-and-possible-sale/

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