DirecTV's days are numbered

[MULTIZ321]

DirecTV's days are numbered.

DirecTV's days are numbered

AT&T management, which has seen massive subscriber losses in 5 years, now admits DirecTV will only be sold in rural areas, putting its future in doubt

www.usatoday.com

Richard

 

[JanT]

We have had DirecTV since it's inception - literally every year except for the 2 years we lived in Fiji. We've never had a problem with them and they've actually been really good about reducing our rate if we call at the end of our contract and twist their arm a little. It will be a sad day to see them go but inevitable apparently.

 

[chellej]

We have been switching back and forth between dish and directv every 2 years just to keep the best rate. I just canceled Dish yesterday and went to youtubetv. Directv rate was only going to be equivalent to dish for 1 year and then would jump up significantly. Youtube tv dropped my rate from $75 with dish to $50. The only channel we didn't get that we watched was History Channel.

 

[WinniWoman]

We had Directv for many years in our former home, but just the basic channels. Right before that we had one of those HUGE satellite dishes back in the 80's! LOL!

When we moved to the rental it was Spectrum internet TV and now in our new home Atlantic Broadband.

 

[GetawaysRus]

I'll be brave and defend DirecTV. I'm a long time customer. I have had Charter (Spectrum) in the past, but to me, Charter equals annual rate increases.

We pay a lower monthly rate with DirecTV than we would pay with a comparable streaming service. The trick: when they threaten to raise your monthly rate, call and ask for the Retentions dept. or the Customer Loyalty dept. The company knows that it is bleeding customers, and they have been quite willing to offer me a favorable rate reduction. If you don't ask, you don't receive.

I'm not a Dish customer, but I wonder if the same might be the case.

 

[Luanne]

We have Directv currently. I hate Dish.

 

[IngridN]

We also have Directv. Our only other option other than Dish is Comcast which we dumped for Directv years ago. Would hate to go back but will do if we have to.

Ingrid

 

[turkel]

Remember when TV was free?

We cut the cord. Watch YouTube with an internet connection only. We have Prime but never watch it. We pay 12.99 for Netflix. Have had cox cable and direct tv in the past cost was $100 to $150 month . No hardship here, will never go back to those bills.

 

[bogey21]

I had DirectTV for years before I moved into my CCRC. I was satisfied and found it very reliable. Their price was reasonable as long as I took the time to negotiate with them at renewal time...

George

 

[pedro47]

The Marriott's Manor Club in Williamsburg,VA have DirectTV.

 

[SteelerGal]

We have DirectTV and it’s fine. I hate to lose it and have to go through our Cable Co., which is the worse

 

[pawolf]

I had DirecTV for ten years or so. I liked it, but had to go through the price negotiation dance once a year or so to keep the cost down. Late last summer, when my promotional discounts ended, I called and they couldn't offer me anything. So I spoke with customer retention and they too said there were no discounts they could give me at the time. So I cancelled. And I really don't miss it. I get news from the internet. I have a Netflix subscription in case I want to watch something. But instead, I read a lot more. I bought a Kindle last year on Prime Day, and get books from OverDrive via my library or BookBub. Maybe some day I'll subscribe to something again, but for now, this works for me.

 

[VacationForever]

I had DirecTV for ten years or so. I liked it, but had to go through the price negotiation dance once a year or so to keep the cost down. Late last summer, when my promotional discounts ended, I called and they couldn't offer me anything. So I spoke with customer retention and they too said there were no discounts they could give me at the time. So I cancelled. And I really don't miss it. I get news from the internet. I have a Netflix subscription in case I want to watch something. But instead, I read a lot more. I bought a Kindle last year on Prime Day, and get books from OverDrive via my library or BookBub. Maybe some day I'll subscribe to something again, but for now, this works for me.

Have you looked into streaming services? They are generally cheaper than cable and DirecTV and they don't play games with price increases each year.

 

[dioxide45]

We had DirecTV for nearly 20 years. We always had great service and were one of the early adopters to their DirecTV with Tivo service. Then moved in to their DVR and then their whole home DVR service which we loved. The only issue we did have was when we moved condos in Ohio, the installer at the new condo came out, looked up and said there was no line of sight. We got a different installer out a few days later and he had no problems. I think the first installer was just lazy and didn't want to check other locations for the dish. Plus there was a thunderstorm coming in, but it wasn't a roof installation and he could have rescheduled.

For us, it was about $100 a month with three TVs. One which we rarely ever watched. So we paid $7 extra a month for nothing. When we moved to Florida we cancelled our DirecTV and didn't sign up again when we got here. First we didn't even know if we would face the right direction though I can see several dishes located around the AC units, so perhaps it would have worked. Though those may just be ground floor units. When we cancelled before leaving Ohio, they didn't try to do anything to retain us. We did sign up in Florida for AT&T Fiber, so we are still with an AT&T product and we like it so far. Not sure if we will like it when the price jumps in July to $100 from the current $70 that we are paying. I guess I could jump to Xfinity for only $80 a month for the same service, but I don't want to deal with the hassle. We work from home a lot and need internet 100% of the time, so I don't know if I want to deal with any potential downtime either.

 

[Bucky]

Good riddance! Like another poster, we have flip flopped between them and DISH for many years. Currently with DISH until October and then probably just switch out to youtubetv. The only thing Directv has that is attractive is the NFL package and since that’s not something we needed it was an easy move this time. Their HR54 DVR is old tech now with only 4 tuners and they refuse to move forward. With DISH we have a DVR with 16 tuners basically allowing us to DVR everything. I got tired of having to call them every year to get a discount. But, our two year price lock with DISH will be up in Oct and we can get youtubetv and philo tv to fill in all the channels we want and still be cheaper that either of the two satellite providers.

 

[maddog497]

Good riddance! Like another poster, we have flip flopped between them and DISH for many years. Currently with DISH until October and then probably just switch out to youtubetv. The only thing Directv has that is attractive is the NFL package and since that’s not something we needed it was an easy move this time. Their HR54 DVR is old tech now with only 4 tuners and they refuse to move forward. With DISH we have a DVR with 16 tuners basically allowing us to DVR everything. I got tired of having to call them every year to get a discount. But, our two year price lock with DISH will be up in Oct and we can get youtubetv and philo tv to fill in all the channels we want and still be cheaper that either of the two satellite providers.

16 tuners, lol. We have 2 with our satalite service provider in Canada and can't keep up with everything my wife records.

Sent from my SM-G975W using Tapatalk

 

[jackio]

Remember when TV was free?

We cut the cord. Watch YouTube with an internet connection only. We have Prime but never watch it. We pay 12.99 for Netflix. Have had cox cable and direct tv in the past cost was $100 to $150 month . No hardship here, will never go back to those bills.

Where do you buy your internet to stream?

We are thinking of cutting the cord because we are now at $200 a month for 2 TV's with no premium channels, internet plus phone.
We will still have to use our cable company to buy the internet (approx. $80/mo if it is not bundled with the other services).

Also, I hate to give up our phone number that we have had for 34 years. But most people call us on our cell phones anyway.

 

[PcflEZFlng]

A couple of years ago, we cut our landline (AT&T) and cable TV (Spectrum), and reset our mobile data plan, saving us an easy $4K a year. Spectrum is still our ISP and AT&T our mobile provider. For TV, we use Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and CBS On Demand, all for pennies compared to what we used to pay for cable!

 

[Tia]

I looked and seems that will cost $70/mo combined for us. Think we are paying ~$40 mo now for a Spectrum app w/10 channels we chose and includes locals + music. Something to consider.

we can get youtubetv and philo tv to fill in all the channels we want and still be cheaper that either of the two satellite providers.

 

[bbodb1]

I think television's days are numbered......

It is becoming more of a wasteland with each passing day....I didn't mind so much when everything was OTA but when you have to pay for it.....

 

[jjking42]

I got the cord 8 years ago
Put an HD antenna in the attic and I get free HD TV on all local channels. Use a TiVo to record whatever we want.

I Pay Sling TV 25.00 for the cable channels


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[vacationhopeful]

I have a vacation home in the woods. See avatar picture. I brought 2 'figure-8' interior (or exterior) antennas to run my bedroom and living room TVs. I have TV for weather, news and old TV shows. Could be worst ,, but the price is good.

PS Old time TV shows and the weather channel are my viewing choices. NO INTERNET there.... beyond my price point.