AT&T and DirecTV Hooking Up Until 2015
DirecTV did a pretty good job of picking up subscribers in Q3. If their Q4 doesn’t go as well, they won’t have AT&T to blame. AT&T gets a lot of attention for their fiber optic U-Verse television service, but U-Verse has had a fairly limited roll-out at this point. Where AT&T lacks U-Verse to bundle in with their telephony and data services, they turn to DirecTV. The two companies recently renewed an agreement that allows AT&T to continue to bundle DirecTV with their offerings. I don’t live anywhere near AT&T’s service area, but I have to admit I would probably prefer to have U-Verse. Anyone live in the AT&T area thankful that they get to choose DirecTV for their bundle instead?
The pact, which runs through March 2015, is another setback for DirecTV rival Dish Network (Nasdaq: DISH), which had a similar deal with AT&T that the company terminated in 2008. The AT&T – DirecTV deal will see both companies invest in marketing quadruple plays of satellite TV programming, high-speed Internet access and mobile and landline phone service.
I did a quick side-by-side
I did a quick side-by-side comparing the closest U-Verse offering to what I am getting through DirecTV and found that of the channels that matter to me (only a couple) that the content that U-Verse TV offers isn’t compelling enough to prompt a change in provider were I in such a situation.
Furthermore after looking at a price comparison I noticed that the U-Verse package didn’t offer any HD content. Granted my DTV stuff is compressed but it still smokes compared to 480i analog. So in the end considering content and price for HD programming…and I use the term loosely…I would have to say that I would have to strongly consider staying with my DTV.
Of course YMMV.