As part of his talk at the Citi 2019 Global TMT West Conference, John Stephens, AT&T Chief Financial Officer revealed that “at the end of the second quarter last year, about 500,000 DIRECTV NOW subscribers were on $10 per month promotional pricing plans.”
At the time, the company had shared that they had 1,809,000 subscribers meaning that almost 28% of subscribers were paying just $10 per month. Around the same time, the company had decided to raise prices and pull back promotions on the DIRECTV NOW. The following month AT&T removed device deals like a Free Apple TV 4K and their 3 month for $10 plan. In November, they removed discounts on the service for AT&T customers.
Stephens shared that “By year end 2018, virtually no subscribers remained on this plan.” As of September 30, the company had 1,858,000, so when the company releases their Q4 earnings on January 30, the question will be how many of those users have remained with the service?
Last quarter, the company added just 49,000 subscribers after four consecutive quarters of nearly 300,000 new subs. The company hopes that by pulling back promotion, raising prices, shrinking the bundle, and offering a paid upgraded Cloud DVR that they can make DIRECTV NOW profitable.