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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.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday September 20 2019, @03:34PM (2 children)
ADVERTISING
It destroys every medium it ever touches.
It may start out okay. Then ads get more frequent. Then longer. But there is no outer limit. No sense of restraint. None. It eventually becomes abusive. A once beautiful country roadway littered with billboards as far as the eye can see. And now they are flashing bright animated jumping seizure-inducing ads to see as you drive.
Cable TV was destroyed by advertising run amok.
Content became crap. Ads got more airtime than content. Then after the ads there were bugs and animated characters that walked out on screen over the top of the content.
And they wonder why nobody seems to want Cable TV?
Oh, gee, I wonder why?
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 20 2019, @07:30PM
Even NFL RedZone now has this crap. So much for it being a "premium channel".
(Score: 4, Insightful) by hendrikboom on Sunday September 22 2019, @12:47PM
Even without seizures, the animation distracts from the serious and life-critical activity of driving. Even with your best effort to watch the road and the other traffic, your attention is diverted. Worse are animated billboard trucks that drive on the road itself. They confuse you as to what's on the road itself.
All this animation on or near roads should be illegal.