New Streaming Pay TV Provider AT&T TV To Be Launched At The End Of February: Report

by Wayne Friedman , February 12, 2020

AT&T TV -- a nascent streaming premium pay TV provider of networks from AT&T -- will start up nationwide later this month, according to one report.

The launch date is Feb. 27. AT&T representatives did not respond to inquires from Television News Daily by press time with regard to a report in Cord Cutters News.

AT&T lost 1.2 million subscribers for all its pay TV services -- DirecTV (satellite), U-verse (fiber) and AT&T Now (internet) platforms -- during the fourth quarter of 2019. Since 2016, AT&T has lost 5 million collective pay TV subscribers.

AT&T TV is sold to subscribers on a contract basis, where customers make a two-year commitment. It is more like a traditional pay TV provider -- cable, satellite, or telco -- and has initial pricing at $59.99/month.

In contrast, DirecTV Now (relaunched last year as AT&T TV Now) has a monthly payment plan and can be cancelled each month with no penalty. An entry package for more than 45 channels is priced at $65/month.

AT&T TV also requires a rental/purchase of a set-top-box device. Until now it has been available regionally in California, Florida, Minnesota, Missouri and Texas.

digital, streaming, television

4 comments about "New Streaming Pay TV Provider AT&T TV To Be Launched At The End Of February: Report".

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George Harmon from HPD, February 13, 2020 at 12:36 p.m.
I'm a current subscriberof AT&T TV. It requires neither a 2-year commitment, not a set top box.
Reply

George Harmon from HPD replied, February 13, 2020 at 12:36 p.m.

*nor

Otto Bott, February 15, 2020 at 11:06 p.m.

This new Android-based ATT TV is simply not ready for prime time. It reminds me of past times in my career when I worked for software companies that brought a product to market before it was debugged. The marketing people would all parrot the same offensive pitch: "Don't worry about it; we'll fix it after it's launched, but we gotta get the revenue flowing NOW!"

My family and I have struggled with it since last year when we signed up. Here's a shortlist of the defects in this horrendous AT&T offering. These are the things that you need to consider before you sign up for a 2-year hitch with AT&T.

• The remote control is a disaster in human factors engineering. Buttons are misplaced and there's almost no differential in tactile feel between them. If you're sitting in a darkened room, you've got to turn on the lights to see what you're pressing. Months of using the remote don't really solve the problem. AT&T people have suggested I paste "touchpoints" of some kind onto the buttons so I can know what I'm doing with the lights off. Oh yes, the remote does light up, but only after you have pressed the button, usually the wrong button. The remote needs a total redesign. Can it possibly have been tested by real humans before being unleashed on an unsuspecting public?

• Just as annoying, button presses often take several seconds, sometimes 10 or more, to take effect. I have to wonder: Did I press the button? Is the Android box in sleep mode? There's nothing snappy or quick about the way the Android box responds. Even pausing a current program can take several seconds. This ultra-slow responsiveness is even more noticeable when using the voice command. It requires you to sign up with Google to get access to their Google Assistant. Too bad the Assistant often takes 5-10 or more seconds to respond. (BTW, we have 100 Mbps Internet service, so this is not the fault of a slow connection).

• What are the two most popular streaming services? Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, most would say. ATT TV doesn't give you access to Prime Video. When you try to add an app for it you get nothing but a dead screen that tells you what Prime Video is. How disappointing!

• There are significant problems with the "Location Services" routines in the Android box. They determine which local channels are displayed in the Guide and therefore, which channels you can watch. The system frequently "thinks" we are located somewhere else. It gives us channels from another locale, often hundreds of miles away from our true location. Not so bad, you say? Well, the system tells us the stations it thinks are our local channels "are not viewable in your locale," which means we cannot view local channels for days, sometimes weeks, at a time.

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Otto Bott, February 17, 2020 at 7:53 a.m.

• Oh but wait! There's an app for Android phones that lets you watch ATT TV on your phone. Apparently that app's Location Services use the GPS or some other method of discovering our true location. As a result, the app never gives us false local channels we cannot watch. So, as a workaround, when we can't get the real local channels on our TV using the ATT TV Android box, we can "cast" it from an Android phone to the TV. But…is that the way anyone wants to watch TV — by casting it from a phone??? I wish the engineers behind the Android box would fix the location services problem. It's clear that it's been done right on the app for phones. Why can't they do the same for their Android box?

• BTW, there's a way to watch ATT TV on your PC as well by logging into your account at https://att.tv. Problem is, it only works on rare occasions. Sure, you can get the Guide, but when you choose a show, it never appears. But, like the Android phone app, it does at least show you the correct local channels, even though you can't watch them.

• We like to record entire seasons of certain programs. Sadly, the Android box often doesn't start or end recordings on time. We're assured of missing either the beginning or the ending of many episodes.

• Then, whether we're watching live or recorded shows, the audio and video are frequently out of sync. That seems to happen even on Netflix and other services. It's surprising to realize that after weeks and weeks of watching peoples' lips move long before their voices are heard … we've acclimated to it. But again I ask, is that the way anyone wants to watch TV?

• Tech support is reachable on a special number that's dedicated to this new Android ATT TV (800-881-1468). We've spent hours in discussion with their techs on these many problems. While I don't want to say anything that would get those hard-working folks in trouble, I believe they know they are trying to support a product that simply isn't ready for public consumption. With hundreds of thousands of customers running away screaming from AT&T's various TV offerings, IMHO, this so-called new tech approach to TV will send millions more running to Comcast (ugh!) or Verizon.

• Before you sign up, check the forums where the public (victims) post their commentary on the many shortcomings of this newest rendition of a contract-based cable TV offering. The forum is at https://forums.att.com/categories/att-tv/5def9460238f4a196321de05