6 ms·

AT&T Launches WatchTV Skinny Bundle for $15

38 points by fomopop 8y ago

berbec 8y ago
So now there's streaming under the AT&T umbrella (directvnow) from $15 to $70. I have the full DirecTVNow package, and it's great. Saves me about $100/month and removes cable boxes, dvrs etc. They just implemented a 12-hour cloud dvr built into the app. Very nice service.
- throwbacktictac 8y ago
  12-hour cloud based DVR sounds like a solution for an artificial problem. Do we really need a DVR for what's basically a on demand streaming service?
  - mikhailt 8y ago
    Yes because you can't fast forward during commercials for on-demand content while you can for DRV'ed content.
  - dustinmoorenet 8y ago
    This probably gets around streaming/broadcast licensing differences. You can save and watch later if licensed only for broadcast.
  - tfandango 8y ago
    Only because not everything is available on demand, or cannot be saved for an extended length. In a perfect world the DVR is an outdated concept.
- uptown 8y ago
  What's your monthly charge for just Internet? Optimum just jacked up their rates to an unreasonable monthly bill for me -- over 100% more than what new customers pay, so I'm planning to cut cable and give that a try.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    I pay $70 a month for AT&T's gigabit (up/down) internet all fees, taxes, and modem included. DirecTVNow has intermittent buffering issues on my Roku TV/Roku sticks -- and I'm getting 200Mb u/d wireless from the location near my TVs and one of my Roku TVs is actually connected via Ethernet. I didn't get the buffering issue when I switch over to my 3rd generation AppleTV over AirPlay. It's also not as bad on the 4th Gen ATV with the native app. If you get DirecTVNow, I suggest you take advantage of the free ATV 4K offer when you prepay for 3 months ($120). Even if you're not in the Apple ecosystem, you can still download the various streaming apps.
  - tegansnyder 8y ago
    We use DirectTV Now app on our Apple TV over a Comcast connection. I really like it. The only problem we have is Comcast imposes a data cap of 1TB. With 3 TVs going in the house, kids watching Netflix, and my wife and I watching a separate shows we occasionally hit this limit then get charged an extra $10 per 50GB. Seems ridiculous.
    - tfandango 8y ago
      Same with ATT (non-gigabit). There's a $30 dollar option to add unlimited cap to your account which puts internet only at around 70 dollars.
dustinmoorenet 8y ago
I noticed no ESPN. This might have helped get the price down. Good riddance.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  The problem with ESPN is three-fold. First, ESPN is expensive. I read in a trade magazine not too long ago that it's the most expensive cable channel for providers to carry. Second, it is very hard for television providers to carry ESPN without also carrying a massive bundle of other marginally-popular ESPN channels that few people want. This is because some cable channels base their advertising rates on the number of subscribers, not the number of people watching a program. Though sometimes it's a combination. Third, (and this is really the suck) if a television provider provides local TV channels that are owned by a company that also owns cable channels (Disney, Kabletown, Cox, etc...) then usually they aren't allowed to carry the local OTA channel without also carrying a bunch of cable channels the provider doesn't want. For example, if a local cable company wants to carry KTRK for its subscribers in Houston, Disney requires it to also take ESPN and DisneyXd and a bunch of other unrelated channels, which the local cable company has to then pass the price of on to its subscribers. AT&T not providing sports or local channels with its new plan keeps the price way way down.
  - rhizome 8y ago
    it is very hard for television providers to carry ESPN without also carrying a massive bundle of other marginally-popular ESPN channels that few people want. This is because some cable channels base their advertising rates on the number of subscribers, not the number of people watching a program The reason you get all the ESPN "Ocho" channels is because ESPN requires cable companies to carry them in order to offer ESPN at all. Cable companies pay ESPN for the privilege.[1] 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/bidding-war-between-networks-sports-leagues-will-increase-price-of-cable-tv/2015/01/23/d0cb19f4-9db8-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/bidding-war-...
- rconti 8y ago
  yeah, this is probably why it compares so favorably with YouTube TV which I'm using for my first month for $40. I did the trial just to play with it; accidentally let it run over by a day but I'll keep it for FS1 during the world cup.
mikhailt 8y ago
Be careful if you're already on ATT unlimited plans, they remove stuff like HBO for life if you "upgrade" to %More, which is 5$ more a month as well.
- fomopop 8y ago
  Yeh, I asked them this question. While you lose HBO for life, you do get a choice of HBO, Showtime, Starz,Amazon Music Unlimited, or Pandora Premium instead. The only reason that you wouldn't want to update is if you signed up for their Unlimited Plan when they were giving $25 off DIRECTV NOW, DIRECTV, or AT&T U-Verse. In that case, you wouldn't get AT&T WatchTV, but you would get a much more comprehensive DIRECTV NOW package + HBO for $10/mo.
scarface74 8y ago
What’s old is new again. This is similar to Sprint’s Powervision offering...from 2005. https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1880163,00.asp https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1880163,00.asp It worked decently well on the high end feature phones of the day. You could get 15-20 FPS.
jedberg 8y ago
No sports, still doesn't solve the biggest problem for cord cutters today (who like sports). You still have to go to at least the $35/mo plan for the sports. Which is still admittedly better than cable.
- reaperducer 8y ago
  I'm OK with this. Number of sporting events I've watched on television in the last ten years: zero. If I want to watch sports, I go to a game or a bar. In some places I've lived, watching sports at home is considered sad and lonely. If you want to see a game, you go to a bar. Then again, in other cities I've lived, people spend tens of thousands of dollars equipping their "man caves" with 6-10 massive screens so they can be surrounded by sports. Must be regional. Or cultural. Or just whatever group of people you hang with.
- paulcole 8y ago
  Yeah I still pay $130/month for Cable TV + Internet just for the sports. And that's not including Sunday Ticket, WNBA League Pass, etc.
  - jedberg 8y ago
    DirecTVNow does have a sports package, you just have to spend $35/mo to get it.
    - paulcole 8y ago
      Yeah, the problem is that I don't cut $35/month off my comcast bill by eliminating TV. They really have a racket going lol.
- gxs 8y ago
  To everyone saying they are OK with this because they don't watch sports: I think the whole point of OPs comment was that if you do like sports this isn't for you, and that's true. It really is one of the only things missing from these packages. You don't have to be a sports nut to want/miss it: just occasioally catching things like the superbowl, playoffs, etc., is enough to miss it.
pascalxus 8y ago
it's still 5$ more than netflix. And, i don't this whole tv stuff well enough, but is this that channel programming nonsense, where shows come on at a specific time and you have to watch it at that time? or is it normal, where you can watch any show anytime?
- terryjsmith 8y ago
  I find it humourous that the latter is "normal". Netflix and online streaming really have changed our perspective; I'm not even that old (30!) and I wouldn't call "watch any show anytime" normal.
- chaostheory 8y ago
  If you have an Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV, you can login to each cable channel app that you want to watch. There are commercials but it is still better than live TV streams. Until I got cable TV again from Comcast, in order to get internet service that was both cheaper and faster (300 -> 400 MBPS at $30 less including cable TV); I didn't understand Apple's TV app and why it exists. I now understand the TV app. Before I couldn't be bothered to even use it. If you want something seamless after having activated all those cable TV apps, use the Apple TV app. Why does Comcast offer internet and cable TV bundles cheaper than just internet service? To pad the numbers for cable subscribers of course.
phjesusthatguy3 8y ago
It's not launched if you can't buy it, and I can't find a link to buy it.
allwein 8y ago
And once again I have to rant. What is the deal with companies announcing new products or services without actually having any details on their own websites?!? They go through all this effort to launch new products, but then they waste the initial excitement. I hopped over to att.com to find out more and hopefully order the service to test out and it's nowhere to be found.
- bsagdiyev 8y ago
  That mirrors what I remember of AT&T when I worked as an engineer at the company they hired to build and run their U-Verse streaming platform before they shut it down this past year. Very dysfunctional, it feels like a lot of these new offerings/changes are grasping at straws and [opinion]had the reek of someone's pet project getting pushed along by someone higher up no matter how terrible it is[/opinion]
intopieces 8y ago
Are there commercials? If so, it's still too expensive. I will never go back to paying both money and attention.
sudosteph 8y ago
Checked to see how the lineup compares to the hulu live streaming (which is admittedly twice the the price), and don't see any reason to switch for me personally. Main reasons being: 1. No FX or FXX (Fargo, Legion, Always Sunny) 2. No USA (Mr Robot) I actually don't care about sports, but being able to watch the east coast stream of Mr Robot live was actually the reason I signed up for that Hulu live stream in the first place. Kept it because sometimes CNN or HGTV are decent background noise.
rsingel 8y ago
This study conflates starting any business with a starting a startup aiming to raise VC $$ and become a $100M+ business. I'd venture there are hell of a lot more startups now than there were 15 or 20 years ago. Other data indicates that the number of folks no longer starting a typical small business for reasons that are multivariate and its a trend that started in the 1970s, so has very little to do with Google/FB/Amaz/Apple/MSFT, and probably much more to do with the change in anti-trust enforcement which allowed the creation of predatory megacorps like Walmart.
donclark 8y ago
Maybe these guys are related to the offering? https://www.mobitv.com https://www.mobitv.com

38 points by fomopop 8y ago

So now there's streaming under the AT&T umbrella (directvnow) from $15 to $70. I have the full DirecTVNow package, and it's great. Saves me about $100/month and removes cable boxes, dvrs etc. They just implemented a 12-hour cloud dvr built into the app. Very nice service.

throwbacktictac 8y ago
12-hour cloud based DVR sounds like a solution for an artificial problem. Do we really need a DVR for what's basically a on demand streaming service?
- mikhailt 8y ago
  Yes because you can't fast forward during commercials for on-demand content while you can for DRV'ed content.
- dustinmoorenet 8y ago
  This probably gets around streaming/broadcast licensing differences. You can save and watch later if licensed only for broadcast.
- tfandango 8y ago
  Only because not everything is available on demand, or cannot be saved for an extended length. In a perfect world the DVR is an outdated concept.
uptown 8y ago
What's your monthly charge for just Internet? Optimum just jacked up their rates to an unreasonable monthly bill for me -- over 100% more than what new customers pay, so I'm planning to cut cable and give that a try.
- scarface74 8y ago
  I pay $70 a month for AT&T's gigabit (up/down) internet all fees, taxes, and modem included. DirecTVNow has intermittent buffering issues on my Roku TV/Roku sticks -- and I'm getting 200Mb u/d wireless from the location near my TVs and one of my Roku TVs is actually connected via Ethernet. I didn't get the buffering issue when I switch over to my 3rd generation AppleTV over AirPlay. It's also not as bad on the 4th Gen ATV with the native app. If you get DirecTVNow, I suggest you take advantage of the free ATV 4K offer when you prepay for 3 months ($120). Even if you're not in the Apple ecosystem, you can still download the various streaming apps.
- tegansnyder 8y ago
  We use DirectTV Now app on our Apple TV over a Comcast connection. I really like it. The only problem we have is Comcast imposes a data cap of 1TB. With 3 TVs going in the house, kids watching Netflix, and my wife and I watching a separate shows we occasionally hit this limit then get charged an extra $10 per 50GB. Seems ridiculous.
  - tfandango 8y ago
    Same with ATT (non-gigabit). There's a $30 dollar option to add unlimited cap to your account which puts internet only at around 70 dollars.

dustinmoorenet 8y ago

I noticed no ESPN. This might have helped get the price down. Good riddance.

reaperducer 8y ago
The problem with ESPN is three-fold. First, ESPN is expensive. I read in a trade magazine not too long ago that it's the most expensive cable channel for providers to carry. Second, it is very hard for television providers to carry ESPN without also carrying a massive bundle of other marginally-popular ESPN channels that few people want. This is because some cable channels base their advertising rates on the number of subscribers, not the number of people watching a program. Though sometimes it's a combination. Third, (and this is really the suck) if a television provider provides local TV channels that are owned by a company that also owns cable channels (Disney, Kabletown, Cox, etc...) then usually they aren't allowed to carry the local OTA channel without also carrying a bunch of cable channels the provider doesn't want. For example, if a local cable company wants to carry KTRK for its subscribers in Houston, Disney requires it to also take ESPN and DisneyXd and a bunch of other unrelated channels, which the local cable company has to then pass the price of on to its subscribers. AT&T not providing sports or local channels with its new plan keeps the price way way down.
- rhizome 8y ago
  it is very hard for television providers to carry ESPN without also carrying a massive bundle of other marginally-popular ESPN channels that few people want. This is because some cable channels base their advertising rates on the number of subscribers, not the number of people watching a program The reason you get all the ESPN "Ocho" channels is because ESPN requires cable companies to carry them in order to offer ESPN at all. Cable companies pay ESPN for the privilege.[1] 1. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/bidding-war-between-networks-sports-leagues-will-increase-price-of-cable-tv/2015/01/23/d0cb19f4-9db8-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/bidding-war-...
rconti 8y ago
yeah, this is probably why it compares so favorably with YouTube TV which I'm using for my first month for $40. I did the trial just to play with it; accidentally let it run over by a day but I'll keep it for FS1 during the world cup.

mikhailt 8y ago

Be careful if you're already on ATT unlimited plans, they remove stuff like HBO for life if you "upgrade" to %More, which is 5$ more a month as well.

fomopop 8y ago
Yeh, I asked them this question. While you lose HBO for life, you do get a choice of HBO, Showtime, Starz,Amazon Music Unlimited, or Pandora Premium instead. The only reason that you wouldn't want to update is if you signed up for their Unlimited Plan when they were giving $25 off DIRECTV NOW, DIRECTV, or AT&T U-Verse. In that case, you wouldn't get AT&T WatchTV, but you would get a much more comprehensive DIRECTV NOW package + HBO for $10/mo.

scarface74 8y ago

What’s old is new again. This is similar to Sprint’s Powervision offering...from 2005. https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1880163,00.asp https://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,1880163,00.asp It worked decently well on the high end feature phones of the day. You could get 15-20 FPS.

jedberg 8y ago

No sports, still doesn't solve the biggest problem for cord cutters today (who like sports). You still have to go to at least the $35/mo plan for the sports. Which is still admittedly better than cable.

reaperducer 8y ago
I'm OK with this. Number of sporting events I've watched on television in the last ten years: zero. If I want to watch sports, I go to a game or a bar. In some places I've lived, watching sports at home is considered sad and lonely. If you want to see a game, you go to a bar. Then again, in other cities I've lived, people spend tens of thousands of dollars equipping their "man caves" with 6-10 massive screens so they can be surrounded by sports. Must be regional. Or cultural. Or just whatever group of people you hang with.
paulcole 8y ago
Yeah I still pay $130/month for Cable TV + Internet just for the sports. And that's not including Sunday Ticket, WNBA League Pass, etc.
- jedberg 8y ago
  DirecTVNow does have a sports package, you just have to spend $35/mo to get it.
  - paulcole 8y ago
    Yeah, the problem is that I don't cut $35/month off my comcast bill by eliminating TV. They really have a racket going lol.
gxs 8y ago
To everyone saying they are OK with this because they don't watch sports: I think the whole point of OPs comment was that if you do like sports this isn't for you, and that's true. It really is one of the only things missing from these packages. You don't have to be a sports nut to want/miss it: just occasioally catching things like the superbowl, playoffs, etc., is enough to miss it.

pascalxus 8y ago

it's still 5$ more than netflix. And, i don't this whole tv stuff well enough, but is this that channel programming nonsense, where shows come on at a specific time and you have to watch it at that time? or is it normal, where you can watch any show anytime?

terryjsmith 8y ago
I find it humourous that the latter is "normal". Netflix and online streaming really have changed our perspective; I'm not even that old (30!) and I wouldn't call "watch any show anytime" normal.
chaostheory 8y ago
If you have an Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV, you can login to each cable channel app that you want to watch. There are commercials but it is still better than live TV streams. Until I got cable TV again from Comcast, in order to get internet service that was both cheaper and faster (300 -> 400 MBPS at $30 less including cable TV); I didn't understand Apple's TV app and why it exists. I now understand the TV app. Before I couldn't be bothered to even use it. If you want something seamless after having activated all those cable TV apps, use the Apple TV app. Why does Comcast offer internet and cable TV bundles cheaper than just internet service? To pad the numbers for cable subscribers of course.

phjesusthatguy3 8y ago

It's not launched if you can't buy it, and I can't find a link to buy it.

allwein 8y ago

And once again I have to rant. What is the deal with companies announcing new products or services without actually having any details on their own websites?!? They go through all this effort to launch new products, but then they waste the initial excitement. I hopped over to att.com to find out more and hopefully order the service to test out and it's nowhere to be found.

bsagdiyev 8y ago
That mirrors what I remember of AT&T when I worked as an engineer at the company they hired to build and run their U-Verse streaming platform before they shut it down this past year. Very dysfunctional, it feels like a lot of these new offerings/changes are grasping at straws and [opinion]had the reek of someone's pet project getting pushed along by someone higher up no matter how terrible it is[/opinion]

intopieces 8y ago

Are there commercials? If so, it's still too expensive. I will never go back to paying both money and attention.

sudosteph 8y ago

Checked to see how the lineup compares to the hulu live streaming (which is admittedly twice the the price), and don't see any reason to switch for me personally. Main reasons being: 1. No FX or FXX (Fargo, Legion, Always Sunny) 2. No USA (Mr Robot) I actually don't care about sports, but being able to watch the east coast stream of Mr Robot live was actually the reason I signed up for that Hulu live stream in the first place. Kept it because sometimes CNN or HGTV are decent background noise.

rsingel 8y ago

This study conflates starting any business with a starting a startup aiming to raise VC $$ and become a $100M+ business. I'd venture there are hell of a lot more startups now than there were 15 or 20 years ago. Other data indicates that the number of folks no longer starting a typical small business for reasons that are multivariate and its a trend that started in the 1970s, so has very little to do with Google/FB/Amaz/Apple/MSFT, and probably much more to do with the change in anti-trust enforcement which allowed the creation of predatory megacorps like Walmart.

donclark 8y ago

Maybe these guys are related to the offering? https://www.mobitv.com https://www.mobitv.com