AT&T Again Exploring a Deal For DirecTV—Update—Sale Pending

Only if you happen to be among the hundreds of people that they've offered service to. It will be some time before Starlink is viable for anyone who wants to spend $100 or more a month plus hardware.

 

The difference here is that the "buyer" is only getting a paltry 30% share. Certainly not enough to effect any meaningful change from an ownership standpoint.

 

I've read on other sites that some think TPG would try to build up Directv for a sale to DISH or perhaps actually innovate in some of the areas you wrote about, if they did one thing, if they were able to bring the full force of the Genie system to a streaming service, that would make this deal worthwhile in my opinion, I don't want to leave Directv until I can find a tv system that works exactly like the DVR does in the Genie system.

Also I'm fairly certain we can't do this currently, I would like to move my recorded shows and movies to an Iphone or Ipad to watch locally on that device, without the need for data to stream it, even if you put a deadline on it, can only move it for 30 days or whatever, that would be nice.

 

What happens when the agreement is given final approval by regulators (expected in the second half of 2021)?

• While current AT&T video subscribers may notice a change in the name of their video provider, (DIRECTV rather than AT&T) we expect few changes.
  
  
• We are committed to a smooth customer experience and will work to continue to further improve customer service and bring new features to our video services.

• We are also committed to providing regular, transparent communications to customers.

What about account information, online access and billing?

• Customer account information, online access and billing arrangements will remain the same. We have a transition services agreement in place that will allow AT&T to support DIRECTV after the transaction closes to help ensure the transition is as smooth as possible for our customers.

Are premium viewing experiences affected, like HBO Max?

• The transaction includes all content deals, including DIRECTV’s NFL SUNDAY TICKET. Customers will continue to have access to premium content via DIRECTV, AT&T TV and AT&T TV NOW and will receive the same services, channel lineups and customer care experience.
  
  
• While HBO Max will remain with AT&T, video subscribers who currently subscribe to HBO Max will continue to have access to it. And subscribers who wish to subscribe to HBO Max will have the opportunity to do so.

Your release says that all content deals will be part of New DTV but also that AT&T's regional sports networks are not included in the transaction. Will DIRECTV still be able to offer the RSNs' content?

• This transaction does not affect viewers' access to the RSN content. Although AT&T will retain ownership of the RSNs, New DTV/DIRECTV will continue to license content from the RSNs and make this content available to its subscribers.

Sourced from: AT&T & TPG Capital Form New Entity to Operate AT&T’s U.S. Video Unit

 

This is almost definitely the plan. If you listened to the conference call they held announcing this deal, the future "monetization" of DirecTV was referred to multiple times by AT&T executives and analysts asking questions. Every time someone mentioned "value creation" or "monetization" they were referring to merging or selling the new separate DirecTV with/to someone else, and the most reasonable target is Dish

If I were a betting man I would imagine TPG has one of two goals: buy Dish's TV business from Charlie Ergen, and let him build his wireless network, and merge Dish and DirecTV together and then milk that cash flow. Alternatively, simply sell a newly independent DirecTV to Charlie. I don't know that Dish would want to be a buyer. If Ergen is truly serious now about building his wireless network, then he's probably a seller. The trick is, getting him to sell at a price TPG would be willing to pay

Of course other options are also on the table if Charlie and/or the FCC don't play ball (although today is a lot different than 2002, they might be able to get it through the FCC now). They could take DirecTV public and cash out that way, there could be other buyers in the form of other private equity companies, and they could just milk it until it's worthless and sell off the parts and pieces later. I'm sure they do have an operational plan to run the company if their flip-it plans fall through

 

Being able to mirror many of the functions should be possible but will they have enough customers left who demand that functionality to bother with it?

Does DIRECTV's DVR technology licensing allow them to duplicate their DVR functionality in a different medium?

 

There would be no value in that. The value in buying out Voom and SkyAngel after they shut down is that Dish needed the bandwidth, and those assets lined up nicely with Dish's technology and orbital slots

The entire value in DirecTV is in the customer base and its contracts with the programmers. There is some value in the satellite assets, but it's not the primary reason you'd buy DirecTV. If you wait till they go out of business then why even buy them at all. The rationale and the market is completely different than it was back then

 

or maybe take all the bandwith and have.

Lot's of channels with BOTH EAST AND WEST HD at bit rates that cable does not have.

 

Au contraire. Not according to the "analysis" by solid signal. This is "great news" for Directv! There will be no merger or the like on the horizon. There is going to be a "renewed focus" on customers and a "laser focus on getting things right". Can't eyeroll enough.

 

Hopefully for those that don't want to pay for Reginal Sports won't have to.

 

Not completely clear what the restrictions will be for downloading shows for offline viewing but this was recently announced -

YouTube TV is adding offline downloads and 4K streaming

 

In my area both GF and AT&T are available in newly built homes. They just aren't going to go tearing up streets. GF pioneered a technique, I think it was called shallow trenching where they did something similar to how the traffic light sensors are done. It didn't work as in some areas the fiber would pop out and either had to be torn out or redone.

Dunno what your complaint about docsis is. I have 1Gbps service and its been pretty reliable. The shared bandwidth is an issue with wfh... but like I'm doing torrents during work hours lol.

 

Unless you have fiber, $100 is what you'll pay for Gbps service in most areas.

5G vs. Starlink... we'll have to see if one wins or they co-exist. Not like they don't have cell service in Wormlick, MT or wherever.

 

Channels are going out of business. There is no pressure to add new things. All bandwidth pressure is going in the opposite direction

There would be a technology transition of some kind, so if they did bring DirecTV assets into the fold they might as well transition to one or the other, and rip the bandaid off and go as deep into modern encoding as possible, meaning drop SD, move to MPEG4/HEVC

I agree that DirecTV needs to stop the bleeding, or at least slow it down. The entire MVPD market is in decline so I doubt they can stop it completely. But right now yes 100% of the value in DirecTV is its paying customers who are generating a big cash flow. There's almost no value in the satellites or the rest of the broadcast infrastructure. I guess there is probably some value in the headquarters next to LAX, Elon Musk could probably use some more office space