AT&T’s Betting On Streaming to Save Its Video Business
AT&T (NYSE:T) will launch two new streaming video products next year: the highly anticipated HBO Max on-demand service and a linear TV streaming product simply called AT&T TV. In the meantime, however, the largest pay-TV provider in the U.S. lost a record number of subscribers in the third quarter. Nearly 1.4 million customers left AT&T’s various pay-TV services over the three-month period, including 195,000 AT&T TV Now streaming subscribers.
The good news is management believes subscriber losses have peaked. It faced several headwinds in the third quarter that won’t be as bad in Q4 and beyond. Those challenges include network blackouts from Nexstar and CBS, to which management attributed 225,000 net losses. It’s also seeing customers come off of their two-year promotional pricing, which will wrap up in November. On top of that, gross additions have been pressured by higher introductory pricing and credit thresholds for new customers.
The pressure on customer losses will ease up going forward, but as far as adding new customers, it’s all about HBO Max and AT&T TV.
Over the last couple years, AT&T’s video product portfolio has gotten quite complex. CEO Randall Stephenson said he wants everyone to be able to find a product that fits their needs with AT&T.
Since its inception, The National Digest has been dedicated to providing authoritative and thought-provoking insights into trending topics and the latest happenings.
