So, it is time to … what? Start over? "New DirecTV" is the sort of new, now somewhat separate company valued at $16.25 billion … down "slightly" from the almost $50 billion AT&T paid for DirecTV in 2015. That's not exactly a surprise given that over last year's 4thQ, AT&T lost some 617k premium (DirecTV + U-verse) subscribers as well as 27k OTT subs.
In short: Yikes!
Okay, so maybe the oft-repeated idea of adding DISH into a spun-off "New DirecTV" (now an amalgamation 70% owned by AT&T with 30% owned by TPG Capital, a private equity firm) is several steps closer to reality. It's certainly better than nothing and might even give AT&T a chance to make something out of managing the once robust satellite service down to a footnote. Goodness knows Charlie Ergen would be happy to make the combo happen … for a price, of course.
Anybody remember how the let-it-bleed strategy worked for the original AT&T with the slow-motion demise of long-distance premium charges? You remember when an area code meant something, don't you?
And, why keep successful HBO Max OTT and put AT&T OTT (whatever that actually represents) in the downward dog? Are they hiding WarnerMedia from "New DirecTV"? … or the other way around?
Do these moves mean that AT&T's management and board recognizes that AT&T doesn't possess Brian Roberts nor a Steve Burke/Jeff Shell-like management team? Will AT&T ever really grow out of Southwestern Bell?
At the same time, the Advanced Television System Committee's so-called 3.0 renovation of over-the-air broadcasting capabilities is just beginning to make a mark as the broadcasters are deploying a variety of initiatives. Broadcasters, of course, have labeled it Next Gen TV.
And Next Gen can pop up as any number of things. For example, evoca.tv in Boise Idaho … kind of over-the-air, multi-channel streaming. Or like fixed wireless 5G for internetwork access in a few tests. Or like free 4K TV in New York City, Los Angeles and a smattering of other major markets with over-the-air 3.0 tuners. Some are even in 1080p; most are still 720p, though. Samsung smart TVs have a Next Gen digital tuner built in. So, like the New DirecTV, broadcasting is shifting … and harder to predict.
Only one thing is for sure: Our streaming services are starting to look a whole lot like cable in the past … raising rates, confusing customers and quite possibly leading to a "brand new Al Gore's mother." (If you don't know what means, check your cable history book by Tom Southwick -- on Amazon. It'll be in the chapter about the heavy hand of regulation.)
Random Notes
Okay, I admit it, I'm actually getting seriously worried about American democracy. That almost half of Americans actually believe the loser really won the Presidential election just because he kept claiming so is downright scary. So, let's quit calling the Trumplicans "conservatives." They aren't, period. Watching CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) last week and Sunday evening wasn't watching conservatives … it was watching a chorus of wannabe brownshirts idolizing the guy who started an insurrection he was actually too afraid to lead … even after promising he would … more than once. And at CPAC, the former No. 45 said, to boisterous applause, "They should be ashamed of themselves for what they've done to our country ... the Supreme Court didn't have the guts or the courage to do anything about it."
"It," of course, was the goal of the insurrection to pressure "his" vice president, two Senators and a 150 or so other Congressfolks into unilaterally disenfranchising over 80 million voters in order to reclaim "his" presidency.
Amazing … most of the second largest American political party is all in for a fascist leader.
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