AT&T is putting its AT&T TV Now streaming TV service out to pasture and going all-in on its AT&T TV service instead. This doesn’t really affect existing subscribers, but new subscribers will be forced to purchase a higher-priced service.
AT&T has thrown in the towel in trying to compete for cord-cutters looking for a cheap TV bundle — an unsurprising move as the telco tries to shore up its struggling pay-TV business.
In an update on its website this week, the telco said it is no longer selling AT&T TV Now to new customers. “AT&T TV Now has merged with AT&T TV to bring you the best live and on-demand experience!” a message on the telco’s site says. The AT&T TV broadband-delivered product, introduced last spring, is priced and packaged more like traditional cable and satellite TV and is designed as a replacement for the steadily declining DirecTV satellite service.
The phasing out of AT&T TV Now comes after years of shifting strategies and a confusing mélange of marketing messaging. AT&T first launched the skinny-bundle service in December 2016, originally called DirecTV Now, stuffed with 100-plus channels for an eye-popping intro price of $35 per month. But the attempt to win cord-cutters backfired, as AT&T hiked the prices of the over-the-top package and the early adopters dropped the package in droves.
A company rep said existing AT&T TV Now customers will continue to have access to the old lineup of channels for the same monthly price “and will not experience any disruptions as part of this change.”
AT&T TV Now most recently was priced started at $55/month for 45-plus channels, and a tier including HBO Max started at $80/month with more than 60 channels.
MacDailyNews Take: If AT&T can’t make it confusing (and more expensive), nobody can!