The future of TV is supposed to be streaming, right?
In its 4th quarter earnings report, AT&T dropped a bombshell. The parent company of DirecTV announced that it had lost 267,000 streaming customers of its DirecTV Now service. The forecast for sub losses was 19,000 according to the Hollywood Reporter. Instead, more than a quarter-million subscribers cut the internet cord on the streaming service.
What caused the disruption? Price.
During the company’s conference call, AT&T Chairman Randall Stephenson acknowledged there is a customer segment at the low end. Many of these “promotional price” users bolted when the price went above $10 a month. Stephenson said that average revenue per streaming customer was higher with the end of promotional pricing and the remaining customer base is growing.
If the satellite provider was hoping streaming would balance out the losses from its traditional DirecTV service, this is not a particularly good sign for the company.
They also reported a loss of 400,000+ satellite subscribers.