All this nonsense about getting back into fiber should have been done when they spent the money on DirecTV which had no synergy with our networks. They completely misread markets and forgot about the differences between DirecTV network and AT&T's, Hence all the ramifications. Then they outsourced great customer service. They outsourced network functions. They outsourced IT.
_ _
Is it possible that they did not understand the market? I can't believe it... it's really hard to believe in so much incompetence. Or is it?
8 replies (most recent on top)
DirecTV had NFL Sunday ticket. That was the only reasonable reason to pursue DTV. Unfortunately, T paid a premium for it.
Someone said: "Some people are great after it is said and done. Long after. Why didn't you speak up when before they bought DirecTV?"
Many people I know, including myself, said at the time that it made no sense. Do you think the culture of AT&T supports any messages going UP the chain of command? AT&T culture is worshipful awe of "leadership". This culture is reason number one why the executives make bad decisions. They see their job as proposing great things and the role of subordinates to implement whatever foolish ideas come to the narcissistic clowns in the c-suite.
yep should never bought dtv and put that money into fiber an uverse. people don't want to lose their tv when it rains.
I remember a week after the first satellite launch for dtv a week later stank said that would be their last. WTH.
NO, NO, NO! Buying DTV made no sense whatsoever! At the time, I shared with several employees, “what are they thinking?” Streaming video is right around the corner and everyone knew it! Stepenson’s logic was, “there’s still enough value left in DTV to profit from subscriber TV!” He was about 10 years too late! As soon as T got its hands on it, well you know how this blockbuster ends! The cherry on the cake was TW which sent the company into a tailspin that we may take years to recover from.
Some people are great after it is said and done. Long after. Why didn't you speak up when before they bought DirecTV?
I think the misread happened when T with all its brilliant minds misread the market on streaming. At the time buying Directv made a little sense b/c of u-verse and our inability to market u-verse to all customers. Directv did solve that issue. But nobody saw what was coming down the line with all of the streaming services. ATT TV would have been great if we had launched it 4 years earlier. But we missed it. I also think we continue to out price all of our products. You don’t have to charge the most, just charge the same amount as everybody else.
That's an understatement! Will they continue to misread the markets or have they learned their lesson?
T like most big slow legacy corporations in America (ie. IBM, GE, etc) are all about quarter to quarter performance, governed by executives that don't have much skin in the game, win lose or draw , the executives and boards will still do very well financially. So even though they have a wide variety of experts at their disposal, they sometimes fall for the different market fallacies, you know "synergies" .. and some executives are particularly bad at figuring out trends or navigating their markets, and make blunders.. T along with VZ and TMO is essentially part of tri-opoly , so it can make a few billion dollar blunders and keep on trucking... Telecom is only going to grow, the world will get more connected..