At&t And Directv Have Merged

Discussion in Digital & Web TV started by MrsJones • Jul 27, 2015.

  1. MrsJones

    MrsJonesActive Member

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    I am interested to know what others think about this merger. We are customers of them both. From the email that I received over the weekend there will be no changes in our current services. So who will this really benefit? The only benefit that I see is access to 'more' movies, if the movies you want to see on DirecTV are not available they could be with AT&T.

    What are your thoughts?
     
  2. Theo

    TheoWell-Known Member

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    Shouldn't the prices come down in that case? They could offer more deals and that will get people to switch to at &t possibly? They could do deals like comcast and also offer more phone deals for cellphones. It should be an advantage, but I know the DirecTv options aren't always great, but I imagine the marketing departments will create some kinds of deals.
     
  3. GeeCee

    GeeCeeMember

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    The prices will never come down. The last time I had DirecTV, I was paying close to $110 every month for a basic package. I realized, six years in, that I was paying about $30 more per month than I did when I started. The same thing with AT&T. Now that those two are one, I could see the price for both services rising. After all you don't get into business like that to lose money.
     
  4. ACSAPA

    ACSAPAWell-Known Member

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    Last year I had a bundle of AT&T and DirectTV services, so they were already working together.
    My DirectTV was $50 a month because it was bundled with my AT&T services. It was a pretty good experience overall.
     
  5. Diane Lane

    Diane LaneWell-Known Member

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    Here in my neighborhood, if you wanted DirecTV plus internet, the internet was provided by AT&T, so I guess they had some sort of deal going on at that time, which was several years back. I wasn't aware that they had merged, and although I'm an AT&T subscriber, I don't recall getting an email from them. If I did, I probably figured it was about my bill, and promptly ignored it. Now I'm going to go back and search my inbox to see if they did notify me, thanks for the heads up. I noticed the other night that I finally have Hallmark Channel, which I've been asking AT&T for, for quite a while. Maybe that's a result of the merger. I agree with @GeeCee@GeeCee, it's all about the profits.
     
  6. Diane Lane

    Diane LaneWell-Known Member

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    I still haven't seen an email or other notification about this. However, when I logged onto ATT.com to pay my Uverse bill the other day, I saw DirecTV at the top of the page, so I guess they're notifying some people, and not others. Perhaps it's the DirecTV people they're notifying, not those with only AT&T? @MrsJones@MrsJones With regard to movies, if you're talking about On Demand Pay movies, that might be the case, but AT&T has very few free On Demand movies. Even the so called premium services on AT&T offer fewer free movies than other companies such as Charter.
     
  7. Happyflowerlady

    HappyflowerladyWell-Known Member

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    We have been wanting to do something besides use Comcast as in internet and cable TV provider. The service is awful for internet, it cuts out all of the time, and they raise the bill for no reason every few months, and you can't even get a service rep that you can understand when there is a problem.
    My daughter jusst signed up for DirecTV and she is pleased with it; so we are going to look at possibly doing the same thing and get the ATT internet bundle.
    We just go an ad in the mail today that says the basic package is about $35 for the first year, for the bundle. this is their most basic package; but it would work for us and almost 1/3 of what we are paying right now for less with Comcast.
    An interesting thing is that my daughter got hers through Sam's Club, and then checked the online ad for the same service, since it quoted a lower price than Sam's was offering through their DTV rep.
    When she tried to check out, they added more charges on to the package, and it actually was about $10 more per month, than what the same service was when you went through Sam's Club.
    We are going to go to Sam's tomorrow, and take along the mail flyer, and see what we can come up with on a deal for both services.
     
  8. MrsJones

    MrsJonesActive Member

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    I've always liked DirecTV and have been with AT&T for years. I would recommend DirecTV to any one because of their customer service. We started with a bundle package 10 years ago which included all the premium channels. We signed up for the Sunday Ticket for three Super Bowl seasons.

    Now with finances tight we've cut back to just basic channels. I think the promotion is a good one to get started just make sure you update your account before the promotion ends.
     
  9. Diane Lane

    Diane LaneWell-Known Member

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    @MrsJones@MrsJones @Happyflowerlady@Happyflowerlady I still haven't cut the cord yet. I saw an ad about the mixed DirecTV TV and AT&T Internet package, and might look into it. My experience this past weekend has really left me with a bad taste in my mouth about the company, though. They have expressed many times how important being labeled 'reliable' is to them, yet in the midst of historic flooding and possible impending tornadoes, they sent technicians home, rather than out to restore service, which they claim is their top priority. Obviously employee safety is important, but even the techs thought it was odd, and apologized to me for it. *Note, the weather here was bad, with slight flooding, but nothing like the feet of rushing water in Houston. I wouldn't want them to be endangered by coming here, either.
     
  10. Ke Gordon

    Ke GordonWell-Known Member

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    Directv keeps begging me to come back to them. They are some of the worst when it comes to hiking the bill up over time. That is why I left them in the first place. However, someone told me they have that ATT Uverse service with Direct TV, and it has only been costing them 42 dollars a month..but that is just for the internet. They were complaining about a price hike to 60, but i have been paying that all along with my provider. DirectV will offer me 200 bucks to come back, and if I could get all my TV's hooked up it would be good. It depends on whether i sell my house or not, because if I can get a bundle deal somewhere else I think it would be less.
     
  11. Diane Lane

    Diane LaneWell-Known Member

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    I spoke to a friend who had DirecTV, and he said he'd switch back to them in a heartbeat if he had the option. That being said, his budget for such things is much larger than mine, and the ads I see showing the man sitting on the couch with the television remote with the credit/debit card reader on it scare me, because it seems some companies do try to gouge subscribers for every little thing. I definitely don't want to go from bad to worse.
     
  12. MrsJones

    MrsJonesActive Member

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    I'd like to believe that it's just competitive advertising to show the worst scenario. I think they portray the customer unfairly like we don't know any better.

    There are optional services available and of course charges for them but it's all about keeping on top of the choices in programming. If you want premium channels it's going to cost. If local programming suffices then you probably will be safer when it comes to budgeting. Of course there are other options like Netflix or streaming devices if you like to watch favorite shows and movies.

    Personally, we have been very satisfied with DirecTV even after going to just the basic package.