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posted by martyb on Friday September 20 2019, @03:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the nuke-it-from-orbit-it's-the-only-way-to-be-sure dept.

AT&T Explores Parting Ways With DirecTV:

Telecom giant considers fate of DirecTV satellite unit as cord-cutting saps subscriber base

AT&T Inc. is exploring parting with its DirecTV unit, people familiar with the matter said, a sharp reversal from Chief Executive Randall Stephenson's strategy to make the $49 billion bet on the satellite provider a key piece of the phone giant's future.

The telecom giant has considered various options, including a spinoff of DirecTV into a separate public company and a combination of DirecTV's assets with Dish Network Corp., its satellite-TV rival, the people said.

AT&T may ultimately decide to keep DirecTV in the fold. Despite the satellite service's struggles, as consumers drop their TV connections, it still contributes a sizable volume of cash flow and customer accounts to its parent.

AT&T acquired DirecTV in 2015 for $49 billion. The company's shrinking satellite business is under a microscope after activist investor Elliott Management Corp. disclosed a $3.2 billion stake in AT&T last week and released a report pushing for strategic changes. Elliott has told investors that AT&T should unload DirecTV, The Wall Street Journal has previously reported.

Related: https://soylentnews.org/article.pl?sid=19/09/18/1656205

Like Blockbuster, DirecTV, Dish, etc. are extremely slow to catch onto the whole Netflix/Amazon Prime Ad-Free, pick-what-I-want-to-watch model.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 20 2019, @07:11AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 20 2019, @07:11AM (#896422)

    My wife worked on "The DirecTV Project" before it launched. She managed a lot of the tech development.
    One night at dinner she said to me, "I'm going to look for a new job as soon as this thing goes up."
    "Why?"
    "I've been playing with the numbers. I don't see how this can ever make money. It's not going to survive."

    It took a while, but she was right.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 20 2019, @10:32AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 20 2019, @10:32AM (#896447)

    I have to admit, I don't see how free (though with advertisement) satellite TV can be profitable in Germany but not in the US?
    I am sure there are good reasons, but it seems really strange, especially since there are some REALLY niche channels on there.
    And the infrastructure isn't even shared, France and Germany each have their own satellites for example.