After six months of losing subscribers, DirecTV bounced back in the last quarter, adding a net 149,000 customers for its satellite TV service. Why the sudden change in fortunes? It has a little something to do with Dish Network’s very public carriage disputes in recent months. [More]
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Are Cable Companies Lowering HBO Rates In Advance Of Standalone HBO Go?
By 1.30.15
Though we still don’t know a specific launch date, name, or monthly cost of HBO’s upcoming standalone streaming service, it looks like some pay-TV providers are cutting their rates for the premium service or offering discounted promotions in advance of its debut. [More]
DirecTV Customers Will Finally Get Access To WatchESPN
By 12.24.14
More than four years after cable sports powerhouse ESPN launched its WatchESPN streaming service, DirecTV remains the only major pay-TV provider whose subscribers are unable to access it. But thanks to a new deal between the satellite company and ESPN’s parent company Disney, DirecTV customers will finally be able to get more value out of the most expensive channel on basic cable. [More]
DirecTV’s HBO Contract Indicates It Could Sell Standalone HBO Go
By 12.4.14
There are several mysteries surrounding the impending 2015 launch of HBO’s standalone streaming video service: Will it be the same as HBO Go? What will it cost? Do I have to buy it through my cable company? HBO hasn’t given any answers to these questions, but recent news about the network’s contract with DirecTV appears to indicate that even the satellite services may be selling the service. [More]
Court Bars FCC From Disclosing How Much Comcast, DirecTV Pay Broadcasters
By 11.21.14
Last week’s last-minute legal battle between just about every major TV broadcaster and the FCC came to a quietly disappointing conclusion this morning, with a federal appeals court refusing to allow the government to share confidential details about the mergers of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, and DirecTV and AT&T. [More]
Broadcasters Get Court To Stop Consumers From Seeing How Much Cable Companies Pay For Content
By 11.14.14
The FCC is currently mulling over whether to give its stamp of approval to two huge mergers — Comcast/Time Warner Cable and AT&T/DirecTV — and is intending to make information available to third parties about the deals that that these pay-TV giants make with broadcasters. But even though you and every other cable subscriber wants to know exactly how much Comcast pays for access to channels like ESPN, MTV, and the major networks, the broadcasters want that info kept under lock and key — and they’ve asked the court to stop it from possibly going public. [More]
FCC Pauses Review Of Both Media Mega-Mergers Because Content Companies Won’t Share Confidential Info
By 10.22.14
The slowly-turning wheel of the approvals process for two big media mergers has temporarily ground to a halt, as the FCC today announced delays in their reviews of both AT&T’s planned acquisition of DirecTV and also the Comcast/Time Warner Cable union. The delays in both proceedings stem from the same core issue: media content companies who don’t want their rivals to learn their secrets. [More]
T-Mobile CEO “Sick And Tired” Of Takeover Talk
By 10.7.14
T-Mobile has long been considered a juicy, low-hanging magenta fruit that some bigger company could pick off and devour. But after years of being wooed by suitors from the Death Star, Japan, and France, T-Mobile CEO John Legere says it’s time to stop talking about his company being acquired by someone else. [More]
NFL Sunday Ticket To Remain A DirecTV Exclusive
By 10.2.14
Millions of football fans now have a reason to not ditch DirecTV. After months of negotiations, the satellite service has finally renewed its deal to be the exclusive carrier for NFL Sunday Ticket. [More]
I Thought I Had Real Mail, But It Was Just A DirecTV Ad
By 9.25.14
I do most of my communicating with loved ones electronically, which makes it a rare treat when I get actual mail that isn’t a bill. Who doesn’t like a nice card? When Justin’s wife received this envelope resembling a greeting card from someone named “Chris Thomas” in California, he didn’t dismiss it as junk mail. It seemed legit. [More]
DirecTV Shareholders Sign Off On AT&T Merger
By 9.25.14
While the rest of the world waits for regulators in D.C. to decide if AT&T and DirecTV should be allowed to live together in wedded bliss, one group of people has already given their blessing to the deal. [More]
AT&T Promises 15Mbps Wireless Broadband To Rural Customers After DirecTV Merger
By 9.12.14
AT&T has dangled a big carrot out there in its attempt to lead regulators to sign off on the company’s merger with DirecTV. If the deal happens, AT&T says it could bring 15Mbps wireless data service (bundled with satellite TV of course) to rural America in 2015. [More]
Why Isn’t America Freaking Out About AT&T/DirecTV Merger — And Should We Be?
By 9.5.14
While pretty much everyone is scrutinizing the pending mega-merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, not much attention is being paid to the possible marriage of the country’s second-largest wireless and pay-TV companies. And that leaves us with two big questions: What, if anything, makes these two mergers so different? And should we be more worried about a unified AT&T and DirecTV than we are? [More]
Unholy Alliance Of MLB, NHL, DirecTV & Comcast Lose Bid To Derail Fans’ Antitrust Suit
By 8.12.14
A goalie, a shortstop, a satellite dish repairmen, and a Comcast tech all walk into a courtroom (well, the Comcast tech comes a few hours late but tells his boss he arrived on time). This oddball mish-mash of sports leagues and pay-TV giants have been trying to convince a federal court to dismiss a lawsuit brought against them by sports fans unhappy with rules they believe allow the leagues to make a pile of cash by limiting access to out-of-market games. But last week, the judge ruled against the sporty alliance, bringing this case one step closer to trial. [More]
AT&T, DirecTV To Take Over Comcast SportsNet Houston; Will Fans Finally Be Able To See Games?
By 8.7.14
Things are looking up for Houston Astros fans. The team isn’t currently in last place, and the ‘stros are outperforming the even more woeful Texas Rangers. Now comes news that some Houston-area sports fans may even get to watch their favorite teams on TV after a bankruptcy court determined to hand over ownership of Comcast SportsNet Houston to AT&T and DirecTV. [More]
DirecTV Now Making It Harder For Non-Satellite Customers To Get NFL Sunday Ticket
By 7.17.14
The headline that DirecTV wants people to read is that its much-coveted exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket package is finally available as an online-only offering to non-DirecTV customers, but the satellite provider has been selling it that way for years. What’s really new about NFLSundayTicket.TV is that it’s going to cost users a lot more and fewer customers will have access to it. [More]
AT&T Says DirecTV Merger Will Save Money, But Not For Customers
By 6.25.14
While the folks at AT&T and DirecTV try to claim that their proposed merger is different from the pending marriage of Comcast and Time Warner Cable, both deals have one bit of double-talk in common, with the companies all saying their respective deals will help them be more efficient and save money while no one is willing to commit to passing those savings on to customers. [More]
No, A Supreme Court Victory By Aereo Would Not Crush The NFL
By 6.18.14
The Supreme Court could issue a ruling in the dispute between the broadcast networks and startup streaming service Aereo as early as tomorrow (though it could also not come down for quite some time). And some folks are claiming that a victory by Aereo in the case would be devastating to the NFL. These people are very, very wrong. [More]
