https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/03/att-considers-selling-significant-minority-stake-in-pay-tv-business.html
20 replies (most recent on top)
There’s nothing to save at Directv anymore anyhow. Directv folks like to spin the narrative that AT&T is the cause of their downfall. And for the years following have held them down. That might have been true at the point of original sale but the truth is they historically benefitted from having competition not being able to enter their market due to requiring large networks of physical infrastructure and programmer relationships. But the truth is they have been operationally incompetent in the modern era. Inability to execute compared to newer competition. The fact is more and more companies like Hulu, Google TV, YouTube TV, Netflix, Etc see the potential of offering both live & on demand content packages to customers. Directv had the advantage of being an early & leading entrance into that space, but could not deliver both product and sale wise. Constant internal confusion, antiquated mentalities about what customers want, loss of premium/exclusive programming and absence of capital investment understanding. If anybody thinks there is a sleeping giant awaiting to be awoken at Directv, there isn’t ... the talent that once was is long gone to better opportunities (oddly a lot of the talent left are international and tied down to corporate sponsorship) ... they never were & aren’t set to compete in today’s market. Anybody who buys them is in for one of the largest operational messes. Just sell the access to customers to Dish. Dump the company.
@1ajx+17KsU5bK: I guess you expect every other company to be as incompetent, arrogant, ignorant, and clueless as T.
Selling any/all of the pay tv services will give them new life under management that understands the industry and is willing to actually dedicate themselves to growing it. Ever since the DTV acquisition the T 'leaders' have done nothing but ignore the core of the business in order to focus on their screwball and half-ashed attempts to turn it into the next Netflix.
Giving DTV and U-verse over to someone who actually understands the TV industry will save them. Something T was both unwilling and unable to do.
Oh, and fork Stinkbomb and the rest of the T executives. They're parasites who s— out everything they can from the employees before tossing the corpses to the side.
I'm asmuming they are refering to the vdsl or adsl that is fiber fed to the vrad as the hybrid network. We have many areas that are ran that way and im still shocked we have not rehabed those areas to full fiber.
Sale it please!It will change the tv industry again!The Directv guys and gals will prosper more if they would just sale it all!
- DirectTV & the Now app don't directly involve our plant(copper or fiber), only the Uverse tv service does. 2. It's just a minority ownership being sold & T would still be maintaining the copper/fiber plant.
“ Basically we would be dumping the Hybrid Network I.e. fiber/copper systems. We will keep building out our Fiber Network.”
No. Hybrid network? No. You folks are clueless. There is no such thing as some “hybrid network”.
@1blh, How much will T pay to buy back the minority stake?
Read it. It's just something to raise some cash, and create tax advantage losses for someone else.
Can't imagine how this is going to be a good buy for someone - whoever buys into this will no doubt have to increase prices and reduce customer service even further which will chase away even more customer. T has put that whole side of the business into a death spiral it'll never pull out of.
Everything Stank the arrogant "Master Strategist" pushed is a disaster
Tmobile fail (-$3b)
DTV wwwwaaaayyy over pay (1+1=3.........WRONG)
TW debt fiasco
now they resorting reorg and cut , reorg and cut .
How can Stankey remain CEO? He was behind DTV purchase all the way. He should be fired already. Amazing that the id–t is still CEO.
I think St. Is behind the purchase.
management can't make up their mind worth anything. what a joke - no direction and falling to third in the mobile area supposedly the area they are dumping money into. lol
We would also off load the employees who take care of the Hybrid Network...again reducing expenses.
Basically we would be dumping the Hybrid Network I.e. fiber/copper systems. We will keep building out our Fiber Network.
Remember......Stinkey knows everything about TV programming. SMH
But Stinkey said content, media and distribution is the business to be in and he and Ratty bet $180B on it...boy were they wrong. Sad part is, they are/will laugh all the way to the bank with their golden parachutes.
Who would want them?
Ratty cut off capital investments to them years ago.
Maybe someone would buy them for a shiny nickel, but Stinky will not get the billions of $ out of him that will save his sorry @ss.
Worst. Management. Ever
Just backing us into a worse position every time they make a deal. It's like chess and we lost our queen 6 years ago. Trying to survive with a few pawns a knight and a rook. They look like they're going to sacrifice the rook for a few more years of play, hoping a miracle happens.