For years, the growing number of video streaming services available to TV viewers has eaten away at the subscriber base for pay-TV services. Traditional cable providers have avoided disaster thus far because even if customers cancel their TV package they still need to purchase their internet access from somebody (and many of us don’t have a choice about where to buy it). But satellite providers like DirecTV and Dish face the looming threat of cord-cutting without anything to offer cord-cutters other than ugly roof decor. [More]
directv now
Today In Streaming TV: PlayStation Vue Comes To Cable, Facebook TV Coming Soon, DirecTV Now Grows
By 7.26.17
It hasn’t been that long since the idea of being able to get all of your TV through the internet was still some far-off future. But by now, we get streaming TV news from the oldest of old-school companies, AT&T, and the new giants, like Facebook, all at once. So here’s what’s shaking in the world of streaming TV this week. [More]
You Can Now Get HBO & Cinemax Through Hulu, But Not On All Devices
By 7.6.17
Hulu, which recently added live TV service in multiple markets, has taken another step closer to offering a viable cable replacement for cord-cutters. Today — and just in time for the new season of Game of Thrones — the streaming service announced users can subscribe to HBO and Cinemax directly through Hulu, but not yet on every device. [More]
Why Does Hulu Drive More Cord-Cutting Than Netflix Or Amazon Prime?
By 6.23.17
When people think of subscription streaming video services, Hulu is usually part of the discussion but is often treated as secondary to Netflix or Amazon Prime. Yet, despite this third-place image of Hulu, it may be the streaming service that is most likely to contribute to people cutting the cord with their cable provider. [More]
AT&T Admits It Wasn’t Prepared For DirecTV Now To Grow So Quickly
By 5.16.17
Although AT&T executives initially dismissed technical issues that popped up during the early days of DirecTV Now as no big deal, the company’s top tech executive admits now that the company wasn’t prepared to deal with the streaming service’s rapid growth. [More]
Why Aren’t More Cord-Cutters Flocking To Live-TV Streaming Services?
By 4.28.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
Millions of Americans have canceled their cable TV subscriptions in the last decade, choosing instead to get their video entertainment over the internet. A growing number of services have popped up in recent years that offer cable-like live-TV streaming for this audience: Sling TV, DirecTV Now, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV, with Hulu planning to launch a competitor soon, and Comcast reportedly looking to get into the fray. Yet, despite the multiple options and the large potential market of cord-cutters and cord-nevers, these platforms have yet to win over the masses. [More]
AT&T Now Throwing In HBO For Free To ‘Unlimited Plus’ Subscribers
By 4.5.17 — Updated: 5.9.17
The battle for unlimited data customers continues to heat up. Only weeks after dropping its price on “Unlimited Plus” plans, AT&T is now giving these subscribers free HBO, even if they don’t have an AT&T or DirecTV pay-TV plan. [More]
FCC Pointlessly Concludes AT&T’s Free Data For ‘DirecTV Now’ Probably Violates Net Neutrality
By 1.11.17 — Updated: 1.12.17
The controversial Open Internet Order of 2015 (known on the street as “Net Neutrality”) is probably going to be rolled back or ignored under the incoming Trump administration, but with a few days left under the existing FCC leadership, the agency has decided to chime in with its conclusion that AT&T’s decision to not ding its wireless subscribers for accessing DirecTV Now streaming video probably runs afoul of regulations and may ultimately harm competition and consumers. [More]
AT&T To Start Using DirecTV Now To Test 5G Tech
By 1.4.17
The future is wireless. At least, so all the wireless companies say. Sure, running actual cables to houses and apartment buildings brought broadband this far, but the always-on, always-streaming future is just going to get more and more mobile. And so the current era of 4G LTE wireless connections will eventually give way to 5G, which promises to be faster, better, and stronger in every way. But before you can use 5G tech, first you have to make it, you know, work. [More]
AT&T Scrapping $35 DirecTV Now Pricing In January; Bumping Bundle To $60
By 12.30.16
Well, that really didn’t last long. The promising $35-per-month price for AT&T’s DirecTV Now streaming bundle was always billed as “promotional” and time-limited, but that time appears to be short. Super-short. As in: ending on Jan. 9, in just over a week. [More]
T-Mobile Tries To Get Under AT&T’s Skin By Offering 12 Months Of DirecTV Now For Free
By 12.15.16
AT&T wireless customers can stream the company’s new DirecTV Now service without having the data go against their monthly limit. The company hopes it will give existing subscribers a reason to stick with AT&T and convince some others to switch providers to AT&T. However, T-Mobile is hoping to use DirecTV Now against AT&T, by offering to pay for a full year of the streaming service for AT&T defectors. [More]
AT&T CEO: Letting Us Buy Time Warner Will “Disrupt” TV, Be “Good For Consumers”
By 12.7.16
When AT&T announced in October that it would spend $85 billion to acquire Time Warner, the plan was met with strong headwinds right out of the gate. A surprisingly broad array of lawmakers, from both sides of the political aisle, immediately voiced concerns. Among the concerned parties? The Senate Judiciary Committee, which today held a hearing examining the impact on competition, and potential antitrust concerns, the merger could raise. [More]
FCC Warns AT&T, Verizon That Sponsored Data Programs May Harm Consumers
By 12.2.16
While last year’s Open Internet Order — better known as the “net neutrality” rules — stops broadband providers from blocking, speeding up, or slowing down data to or from sources of their choosing, that rule doesn’t explicitly deal with the practice of “zero-rating,” where a broadband provider doesn’t count certain content against the user’s monthly data limit. After recently raising “serious concerns” about this practice, the FCC is now warning AT&T and Verizon that some of their zero-rating programs appear to harm consumers by providing these companies with unfair advantages in streaming video. [More]
AT&T Confirms Live Access To NBC Is Still Mobile-Only On ‘DirecTV Now’
By 11.30.16
Earlier this week at the official launch event for the DirecTV Now live-TV streaming service, I and others noticed that while the live feed for the local NBC affiliate was showing up on the DirecTV Now mobile app, the channel was absent from the lineup of stations available for viewing on your actual TV. AT&T staff that we spoke to at the event insisted that this would not be the case when the service launched, but DirecTV Now is now live — and NBC is still not working on users’ TV sets. [More]
6 Questions To Ask Yourself Before Deciding Whether To Try ‘DirecTV Now’
By 11.29.16
Last night, AT&T finally pulled back the veil on its long-awaited DirecTV Now streaming service, which will launch tomorrow starting at $35/month. But before you take a sledgehammer to your cable box or refashion the satellite dish into a sled and/or serving bowl, there are some important things to consider. [More]
‘DirecTV Now’ Streaming Service Will Launch Nov. 30; Starting At $35 For 60 Channels
By 11.28.16 — Updated: 11.29.16
After months of teasing the eventual launch of DirecTV Now — a live-TV streaming service that doesn’t require a subscription to cable — AT&T has finally announced the important details of the product that will kick off on Nov. 30 at a price ranging from $35 for around 60 channels to $70 for more than 120 channels. [More]
FCC Has “Serious Concerns” About AT&T Exempting DirecTV Video From Mobile Data Caps
By 11.11.16
In September, AT&T announced that it would not charge streaming DirecTV content against wireless customers’ monthly data caps. It’s a controversial practice known as “zero-rating” that some believe has anticompetitive effects, especially when the content company is owned by the wireless provider. It’s an issue the FCC has not yet ruled on definitively, but one that the Commission says may be cause for concern. [More]
PlayStation Vue Ditches Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Spike, BET, CMT & Many More
By 11.9.16
Sony’s PlayStation Vue live-TV streaming service has been marketed as a true cable-replacement option for cord-cutters, but the company just announced changes to its channel lineup that will see the removal of several big-name cable networks. [More]
