AT&T TV Cities Now Listed on ATT Site

AT&T once again shows they are clueless about the market. The pricing and commitment are just stupid.

 

WPIX is not offered on any OTT services. If WPIX is a must you either forego OTT or install an OTA antenna.

 

Looks like no 4k from DIRECTV itself, need subscription from 3rd party for that.

 

Some of them yes. Pretty much all if the kids channels

 

In the course of a day I watch four TV sets at different times. I would need a box for each set or I'd have to disconnect one and carry it from set to set? Not gonna happen. I'd need four boxes and that has nothing to do with how many I watch at a time. In that scenario 3 streams is more than enough.

500 hours equates to a 2TB drive, IIRC.

Rich

 

Yup, that's one of the reasons I haven't left D*. There are more reasons.

Rich

 

AT&T started advertising an AT&T TV commercial on the Gold’s Gym TV channel where I workout.

 

Who is the third party? Where did you see your source?

 

AT&T TV: Live TV, DVR, On Demand, Apps & Voice Control

4K enabled

Experience your favorite third-party apps in dazzling 4K for greater depth, increased color saturation, and crisp, clear contrast.

Req’s 4K TV. Check 3rd-party provider for 4K internet req’ts.

 

4K Enabled Yes for Netflix You tube or whatever other apps.. Nothing about Directv 4K

 

I've posted a ton of predictions about what AT&T TV is going to look like and -- I'll be honest -- the packages, pricing and contracts on this pilot version of the service do NOT look like what I predicted, ha! But I think you're right that the 2-year contract goes away when AT&T TV rolls out nationwide. I think it will require a 12-month contract (same as Uverse TV, which it will replace, has always had).

I expect that AT&T TV Now, AT&T TV, and DirecTV will follow a sort of "step-up" pattern in terms of pricing and commitment.

AT&T TV Now: never a contract
AT&T TV: 12-month contract
DirecTV: 24-month contract

AT&T TV Now: meager cloud DVR (might stay at 20 hours/30 days or might bump up a bit)
AT&T TV: expansive cloud DVR (might stay at 500 hours/90 days or maybe they increase the auto-expiration period from 90 days to something longer, as I see that as the service's biggest flaw vs. YouTube TV, which has unlimited hours and a 9-month auto-expiration period)
DirecTV: traditional local DVR with typically about 200 hours of HD storage, no auto-expiration

AT&T TV Now: 2 simultaneous streams ($5/mo extra for each additional stream). You must provide all your own streaming devices.
AT&T TV: 3 simultaneous streams (no additional streams available yet but I predict they will allow them at $5/mo extra for each additional stream, up to a max of 6 streams. Why 6? Because right now, AT&T will sell a single account up to 6 AT&T TV streaming boxes.) Comes with 1 AT&T TV streaming box that is yours to keep. You can buy additional boxes or just use your own TV-connected or mobile devices to view your 2nd and 3rd streams.
DirecTV: comes with 1 DVR, each additional receiver for whole-home DVR service costs $7/mo extra.

I think all three services will offer the same new set of channel packages to new subscribers (with the old set of packages -- Entertainment, Choice, Xtra, etc. -- grandfathered for existing subs). These new packages will be Starter, Plus and Max, and all of them will automatically include HBO Max. There will be no extra charges for RSNs (which will only be included in the Max package). Any given base channel package will cost $10 more on AT&T TV than on AT&T TV Now and at least $10 more on DirecTV than on AT&T TV.

All three services will feature standard everyday pricing from the first month. No more up-front promo prices that shoot up in the second year. But if you sign up for AT&T TV or DirecTV with an up-front contract, you might score a $50 Visa gift card and/or other special bonus like free NFL Sunday Ticket. DirecTV continues to offer free pro installation (which is part of the reason it will have a higher monthly price and also require a 2-year contract). Perhaps for folks that already have an installed DirecTV rooftop dish and wiring, they'll be able to re-activate DirecTV service without a contract and only have to pay a re-activation fee (e.g. $50, non-refundable) that will cover the cost of shipping for the Genie receivers which they'll have to self-install (with the help of online tutorials and free phone-based technical assistance). But if it doesn't work out, they'll either have to take the receivers to a UPS Store for free return shipping and walk away owing nothing, or call up DirecTV and agree to the 2-year contract with free pro install.

Lastly, only AT&T TV will qualify for a bundling discount with AT&T Internet/Fiber. They'll take $10 off per month from the combined price indefinitely. This $10 discount will effectively make AT&T TV the same price as AT&T TV Now for folks who have AT&T Internet/Fiber. In fact, if you look at how much better a deal AT&T TV will be vs. AT&T TV Now (even if you're not on AT&T Internet/Fiber), you can see how they will make it so that very few folks would opt for AT&T TV Now. It'll just make more sense to pay the extra $10/mo in exchange for a way better cloud DVR, a 3rd stream, plus one free streaming box and voice remote that are customized for use with the service.

 

I had both DISH and DirecTV for extended period and, honestly, at least SOME of my channels went out every time it sprinkled. The situation was definitely worse on DISH; typically all of those channels went out, whereas sometimes only part of my channels went out on DirecTV. Still though, rain fade was very much a problem for me. (And before you ask, yes, I had techs come out and "peak" my dishes, check everything out and confirm that everything was as good as it could possibly get for me. And I live in Nashville, BTW, not Seattle.)

 

I put in a St. Louis address on ATT.com and pretended to sign up for AT&T TV. They'll sell you up to 6 AT&T TV streaming boxes (first one free, each additional one $120 to be paid either up-front or spread out over 12 months at $10 per month). So you'd be covered.

I find it interesting that they're selling folks up to 6 boxes on a service that only supports a max of 3 concurrent streams. My bet is that that's a temporary thing and they'll sell additional streams for $5/mo each, probably up to a max of 6. Although it's possible that they'll somehow try to monitor where those streams are accessed to discourage two or more households from sharing the same AT&T TV account. You can see how they wouldn't want to let a second household pitch in just $15 more dollars on a friend's account to go from 3 to 6 streams, which would be enough to cover most 2-household scenarios.

 

The current apps for Netflix and (I think) YouTube on the AT&T TV box support 4K HDR. If it's not already available, the Amazon Prime Video app should be coming to it soon with support for 4K HDR. Hulu offers 4K (but not HDR) right now on just two devices, the Apple TV 4K and Chromecast Ultra, although I expect that their new Android TV app will eventually support 4K (and HDR) on this device.

Lastly, it's a no-brainer to expect the forthcoming HBO Max app to support 4K HDR and definitely on AT&T TV's own device.

 

I don't expect AT&T TV to ever carry live streams of local channels beyond the affiliates of ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, The CW, My Network TV, Telemundo and PBS. AT&T TV Now already carries the big 4 just about everywhere -- with the exception of stations missing due to temporary blackouts. CW, My Network and Telemundo locals are much spottier but should get mostly filled in over time. They don't carry PBS locals anywhere yet but given that YouTube TV has struck a deal to soon add every single local PBS station nationwide, I can't imagine that AT&T TV/Now will be far behind.

As for all those independent locals as well as digital subchannel networks like Me-TV, COZI TV, Antenna TV, etc., you'll just need to use an OTA antenna if you can. I predict that AT&T TV/Now will eventually offer a network OTA tuner device that works exactly the same way that the Air TV tuner works with Sling TV. Connect it to an antenna and your home wifi router and it'll pump your free locals into the AT&T TV box and app throughout your home. Connect your own USB hard drive to the tuner device and you'll have free local OTA DVR service, integrated right alongside your streaming channels' cloud DVR.

 

Why? There are probably a lot of people like Rich who have TVs in many rooms but aren't watching them all at the same time. Even in a family of 5 or 6 three streams may be fine, because you'd rarely have everyone all watching a different TV at the same time, and some people might be streaming Amazon or Youtube meaning you'd need only three AT&T TV streams at once.

I'm sure there are many out there who would love it if they could get a client/receiver for every TV for Directv satellite, but choose how many could be active at once so they could e.g. have 7 clients but only pay $21/month in $7 fees if they were never going to watch more than three at once.

 

Yeah, good point. As I said, I find it "interesting" that they'll sell you up to 6 clients (and why only 6? why not 34?) when AT&T TV only allows a max (right now) of 3 concurrent streams. The disparity of 3 vs. 6 may not signify anything. But it might. I do know that a number of online commenters who currently have satellite or other traditional cable TV have criticized the 3 stream limit.

3 simultaneous streams is the max that YouTube TV allows. My guess is that cable networks and vMVPDs are concerned about account sharing between different households.

But look at what Hulu with Live TV does. The base plan allows two concurrent streams anywhere, on any devices. But you can pay extra for an Unlimited Screens Add-on:

If you’re a Live TV subscriber and need more than two screens, you have the option to get the Unlimited Screens Add-on. With the add-on, you can stream on all the devices connected to your Home network at the same time. If you’re out of the house and on the go, you can also stream from up to three different mobile devices.

If you happen to subscribe to HBO, Cinemax, STARZ and/or SHOWTIME as well, there is a limit on the number of simultaneous streams allowed for these networks. You’ll only be able to stream premium content from a total of five screens — three of which can be on out-of-home mobile devices — at one time. If you exceed this limit you will run into a “too many streams” error message.​

The cost of Hulu with Live TV's Unlimited Screens Add-on by itself is $10/mo. Same is true for their Enhanced Cloud DVR (200 hrs storage, no expiration, ability to FF through ads). But you can buy both together for $15/mo.

So perhaps we'll see AT&T TV offer an upgrade for another $5-7 per month that does NOT expand beyond 3 the number of concurrent streams for out-of-home devices or access to premium content (HBO Max / HBO / Showtime / Starz / Cinemax / Epix) but which DOES allow unlimited concurrent streams for non-premium content among devices connected to your home network. (Obviously, if you're an AT&T Internet/Fiber customer, they'll know what you're home network is. For anyone else, I guess it would just be determined by whichever IP gateway address has the most active streams running through it at a given point in time?)

 

That's probably true, but AT&T TV could easily avoid that since AT&T supplies the clients. Require all active clients are able to see each other over the same network and there wouldn't be any reason to limit their number over account sharing concerns - you'd only have the limit the number of mobile device streams.

 

I think it would be cool to have the AT&T TV app on smart TV’s but don’t you always need to have the latest SmartTV’s OS to update an APP? I have seen APP’s say needs the latest IOS to use. Unless that’s different on phones?