According to celebrity net worth, DirectTV Now, AT&T’s streaming service is a $200 billion business.
According to Meg James at the LA Times, AT&T released a streaming service, DirecTV Now, late November of 2016. This streaming service offers customer an experience similar to Hulu, Netflix and Dish Network’s Sling TV and was an instant success.
Roger Cheng from Cnet said, "DirecTV Now represents AT&T's push to transform itself into more than just a phone company, taking control of the content you watch and of how you watch it...". Facing steep competition in the wireless communication world due to companies such as Sprint and T-mobile, AT&T needed to find a new way to bring in money and customers, and they believe DirecTV Now is their golden ticket. Since the addition of this streaming service brought in 200,000 new customer, AT&T is going to continue down this path by offering Time Warner a deal.
The Creation of DirecTV Now came at a crucial time, AT&T lost a massive amount of subscribers from October-December due to issues with their U-Verse service. With a loss of 27,000 customers, AT&T needed an invention that would draw customers back in, and with the popularity of streaming sites such as Netflix and Hulu, the solution was clear. This new streaming service became available to the public November 30th at an introductory cost of $35 per month and was an instant success, but the price quickly rose.
The introductory deal quickly became obsolete when DirecTV Now came out with a variety of bundle options. According to Todd Spangler at Variety, the first one “Live a Little”, offers 64 channels and cost $35 a month, “Just Right” comes with 80-plus channels and cost $50 a month, “Go Big” offers 100-plus channels for $60 a month, and the mother of all bundles, “Gotta Have It”, comes with 130 channels and runs for $70 a month. Meaning those who were one of the first to invest in AT&T's new service, were granted the "Go Big" bundle for almost half the cost.
But, like with many new inventions, this service had a few glitches. AT&T Chief Financial Officer John J. Stephen addressed the annoyed customers and explained to them that this system is still in it’s early stages and the company is still working to repair said issues. Regardless of the malfunctions, AT&T’s DirecTV Now was able gain 200,000 new customers, exceeding Wall Street’s expectations.
Focusing on the future, Chief Executive Randall Stephenson said the following in the LA Times, “We launched DirecTV Now. Our 5G evolution plans and improved spectrum position are paving the way for the next generation of super-fast mobile and fixed networks”.