Seems like any attempt to merge hardware / satellites / dishes / CSRs / techs / etc. wouldn't be too economically viable. How long has AT&T been trying to merge billing? As I mentioned above, my billing was on ATT.com for a while, but recently reverted back to DirecTV.com, so I suspect that's AT&T wanting to get out of the rest of their ill fated purchase.
The Hopper 3 has the most apps ... but the new Hopper Plus and and Android enabled Joeys bring other streaming apps into the picture.
As many have noted, AT&T sucks. If DISH ends up owning DIRECTV perhaps they will suck less.
An "easy" merger can be done in 3 - 6 months. A merger where people throw a hissy fit and object can take 1-2 years. I'm an investor in a stock where they tried to do a messy international merger and it took 2 yrs before it got rejected by regulators. I think Blizzard+Microsoft has been going on at least a year?
.Merging billing + csrs + techs would be a good idea to save some money without being too expensive. AT&T just messed it up.The Hopper 3 has the most apps ... but the new Hopper Plus and and Android enabled Joeys bring other streaming apps into the picture.
As many have noted, AT&T sucks. If DISH ends up owning DIRECTV perhaps they will suck less.
How long AT&T attempted to move satellite subscribers over to their billing system is a a good question. Why they bothered is a bigger question. I can see the value of being on "one system" when offering bundled services (such as cell phones and Internet with AT&T TV or DIRECTV satellite) but they didn't seem to be in a hurry to complete that migration - then they moved forward quickly at about the same time as deciding to split off DIRECTV. They really AT&T'd up the transition.
As noted in the several other threads on the topic I do not expect a merger between the services if DISH ends up with DIRECTV. It would be an expensive and complicated mess. But 110 and 119 could become DISH locations without major changes (DISH's satellites were designed to cover DIRECTV's licenses and their dishes can receive all transponders). Between the two current operations they are making $5 billion per year in profit so there is no pressure to create an instant cost savings lest one system or the other would fail.
In my opinion DISH doesn't need to own DIRECTV ... but since the owner of DISH keeps saying that a merger is inevitable I won't rule one out. Even though I believe DISH would be better off waiting for DIRECTV to fail and buying what's left than to attempt a merger now (or within the next two years). My opinion, as stated.
Ergen has been predicting a merger for the past couple of years. The more recent statements seem to be more "now or never" ... I'd like to know whether or not he believes the moment has passed but I have already expressed my opinion that he should not attempt such a merger.Ergen hinting in the Q3 earnings + my billing reverting to directv.com recently + TPG saying they want out? Mighty suspicious coincidences there
I wonder if it would help with retention? There are some people who swap services every two years. Instead of switching satellite providers would they stay or go away?
Good luck. After they migrated my DirecTV account to AT&T and then back to DirecTV it was so screwed up nothing worked properly so they eventually gave up on it and had to move that account info to a NEW DirecTV account and it is much better now.
maybe to the at&t haters.
When did my ex-boss from The Abusers get a job at AT&T lol? I assumed he was the only guy who would spend millions of dollars and then at the 98% throw it all out. Guess not.
I don't know how far AT&T got on the DIRECTV to AT&T conversion but I would not expect it to be anywhere near 98%. I believe most of the conversions were through attrition. Some customers left, other customers came. New customers got AT&T billing.
It probably isn't reasonable to assume that the billing system would be nearly as difficult as AT&T made it appear. Unless the entity that acquired was nearly as large as AT&T, they probably wouldn't attempt something as difficult as trying to shoehorn a pay TV billing system into a phone and data billing system.
