AT&T looking toward eliminating Direct satellite TV by 2020

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Sun2Retire said:
What is the advantage of AT&T's plan vs just paying $40/mo for Dish's RV plan with no bandwidth or reception issues (as long as I have a view of the southern sky)?

Not much, as long as the satellite TV providers continues to offer the service.  For non-RVers it's a way to get access to the "cord cutters" who only have Internet service, not cable TV.

Beyond that, if you look further up the thread, there's concerns about how much longer satellite TV will be viable.  Between the cord cutters and the aging of the satellite fleet satellite delivered TV may not be around much longer.
 
Lou Schneider said:
Not much, as long as the satellite TV providers continues to offer the service.  Beyond that, if you look further up the thread, there's concerns about how much longer satellite TV will be viable.  Between the cord cutters and the aging of the satellite fleet satellite delivered TV may not be around much longer.

OK, thx. Thought I was missing something. I'd be very surprised to see satellite go away anytime soon. I've seen townhouse projects that, through contract, have been wired using DirecTV as the sole provider of TV in the complex - every single unit has a dish. Likewise the condo projects in which I own rentals are bristling with dishes. And I'd say a full third of the homes in our area are sporting a dish. It's not as if there is no customer base. And according to RVIA there are 9 million households with RVs and I'd bet a fair number have either permanent or portable satellite systems.  Even if bandwidth restrictions are lifted the reality is that there are many areas with very poor cell service and where it will never be feasible to put more cell sites in, leaving satellite as the only reliable means to receive TV. Moving over 20 million satellite customers from dish to cell seems like a pipe dream at this point. This "ending" of satellite service feels like a trial balloon to me.
 
Once again, the "dish" way of receiving content is not sustainable. Tens of thousands of folks are "cord cutting" every month. The monthly fees are too great for the next generation of home owners "millennials" and retirees don't want to or can't  pay $200 + a month for content. Streaming is a MUCH less expensive way for the content providers to get content to the customer.

 
Streaming is a MUCH less expensive way for the content providers to get content to the customer.

But it'll leave out all those customers who don't have high-rate data connections on the phone (or have no service at all), and those who maintain a non-data phone or landline only (yes, I know landline service is shrinking a lot).

So you're saying that they'll also build out the 4G cellular network into the huge areas that don't even have cell service of any kind at present? With enough signal strength to be useful for streaming?  And you're saying the streaming will have enough bandwidth and signal strength for everyone in the very high-density city areas (think major high-rise) to all (or at least most) use it simultaneously? That's a lot of two-way radio.

Or are you saying there are a lot folks who watch the tube now that'll not be able to watch in whatever future time you're imagining?

The radio frequency spectrum is NOT infinite, so you also have to be imagining major changes in the data distribution network over huge areas.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't doubt there will be major expansion of streaming, I just doubt that the "streaming model" will replace all the various video distribution mechanisms out there now, not even satellite, though it'll grow smaller perhaps. I just can't picture the complete changeover you envision to nothing but streaming for video in real time.
 
rbertalotto said:
Once again, the "dish" way of receiving content is not sustainable.

There's no doubt it cost more to maintain satellites than cell towers, but they did manage to eke out a $2.75 billion profit in 2014
 
So far the DirecTV Now will not have DVR or recording capabilities, no pausing capabilities for more than 5 seconds and then it picks up in real time and you miss the 5 seconds and you will not be able to stream more than two concurrent streams per account or you pay more. The 100 channels will only be offered for a limited time for $35.00 and then it will cost $60.00. And DirecTV will still not say what channels you will get. You might wind up with 49 shopping channels. You're not going to get sports channels. After the limited offer period, $35.00 will only get you 60 channels and we don't know which ones. You're not going to get locals like you can now with your dish. So don't start ripping those dishes off the roof just yet. As with all things that look too good to be true, they probably are. "Live streaming from the major networks (ABC, Fox, NBC) is also a mixed bag: you?ll be able to watch live programming in major cities where the networks themselves own the local station," The Verge wrote. "But where affiliates are involved, most users will have access to day-after on-demand replays of primetime shows. Verizon retains its exclusive mobile rights to NFL games on broadcast networks?so you can?t watch them on your smartphone but can stream them on other devices. DirecTV Now works over any Internet connection and thus doesn't require a satellite dish or set-top box, but the service simply won't provide all the programming offered by satellite and cable services." Chuck
 
All good observations. How it actually shakes out is yet to be seen. And I for one am waiting to make my decision and pass judgement.  But I do acknowledge progress, and new technology.
 
With about 40 million sat subscribers between DTV and DISH, I don't expect to see DBS TV transmissions going away for quite awhile. As OTT Internet streaming delivery adds more channels though, particularly in the sports and local channel categories that are pretty lacking right now, I'm sure will see a steady drift of subscribers in that direction. If the promised LEO satellite Internet providers eventually live up to their high bandwidth low cost hype, that could be a good match for RV'ers and rural areas, leading to even more "cord cutters" on the sat TV front.
 
What happened to my low cost internet from satellite that both Google and Musk promised me?! Instead I get to watch shopping channels on my phone over spotty cellular networks with data caps?!  ??? I can hardly wait  ;)
 
Sun2Retire said:
What happened to my low cost internet from satellite that both Google and Musk promised me?! Instead I get to watch shopping channels on my phone over spotty cellular networks with data caps?!  ??? I can hardly wait  ;)

Musk's SpaceX has applied to the FCC for space allocations, and indicates a possible initial launch in 2019. It will take awhile though, to launch all 4,425 satellites for full global coverage with gigabyte speeds per user.

SpaceX plans worldwide satellite Internet with low latency, gigabit speed
 
I'm not  ready to junk my dish, but I am shelving any plan to pop 2 grand for a HD dish for the rig.  Although it may take awhile, I do believe that it is the direction that the industry is going, albeit slowly.
 
We are wanting a tailgater... and it is only xx not nearly the 2k.. and I am not sure I want to spend the cash or use my bulky old dish... are there any places to buy the tailgater cheaper.. someone mentioned truck stops...not sure hubby wants to drag big dish around for a trip south... and moving every 7 days.. to see new country..
 
tanglemoose said:
We are wanting a tailgater... and it is only xx not nearly the 2k.. and I am not sure I want to spend the cash or use my bulky old dish... are there any places to buy the tailgater cheaper.. someone mentioned truck stops...not sure hubby wants to drag big dish around for a trip south... and moving every 7 days.. to see new country..

For Dish use, instead of the Tailgater I recommend getting the Winegard Pathway X2. The X2 can "see" either the Dish eastern or western arc satellites as needed, increasing the aiming opportunities on heavily wooded sites, and has a larger dish than the Tailgater, making a bit less susceptible to rain fade in inclement weather. And neither one works with Direct...
 
NY_Dutch said:
For Dish use, instead of the Tailgater I recommend getting the Winegard Pathway X2. The X2 can "see" either the Dish eastern or western arc satellites as needed, increasing the aiming opportunities on heavily wooded sites, and has a larger dish than the Tailgater, making a bit less susceptible to rain fade in inclement weather. And neither one works with Direct...
Or the Winegard Carryout, which can also be switched for Direct SD...
 
Larry N. said:
Or the Winegard Carryout, which can also be switched for Direct SD...

The Carryout is Dish western arc only, although it does have Direct and Bell switchability in its favor. For Dish, I still prefer the dual arc X2.
 
I'll stick with DISH-----------if we didn't RV maybe something cheaper would be the way to go.  I mostly watch stuff that are previously recorded so I can FF through the commercials.  Also pause, back up, closed caption,etc.
Marvin
 
We like to do that too and use our DirecTV DVR. With the new streaming service from DirecTV you can't record or pause for more than 5 seconds. No fast forwarding through commercials.Chuck
 
DirecTV NOW.....A full report!  Currently I have Comcast /Xfinity Cable at my house. I'm always searching for a way to cut the cable and be able to bring the various news shows with me and reduce my costs for internet and content at home. Xfinity offers a free service called "TV GO" that is supposed to allow you to watch whatever channels you are subscribed to on your personal device. But you have a 50/50 chance that it will be working when you want to use it. It is FREE only if you subscribe to the cable service at home.

DirecTV just launched DirecTV NOW this past week. Currently they offer a 7 day free trial service. And a promotional offer of 100 channels for $35 a month.

I signed up to give it a try.........So, to cut to the chase....in a word....FANTASTIC!

I used my Sprint HotSpot with only one bar of LTE, My Verizon MiFi with three bars, the Xfinity WiFi service (thousands of Xfinity WiFi hot Spots all over the country) and my TechnoRV ALFA 36 WiFi booster to my home WiFi router...........In all cases the performance was phenomenal!  Takes a couple SECONDS to log on and begin seeing broadcasts. VERY, VERY FAST! Picture quality is simply amazing. Much better than other streaming services I'm subscribed to.

I used AppleTV to "mirror" it from my Ipad mini to a 55" TV and video quality remained full HD.

To say I'm impressed would be an understatement!

But more importantly, I'm paying $69 a month for about 40 basic channels on my Comcast/Xfinity cable system. I would have cut the cable long ago, but we like Fox News, CNN and MSNBC and these were not available streaming reliably until now.

Now for the bad news. Using the "data used" screen on my Sprint MiFi unit, I used 86mB for 5 minutes of streaming.......That is about 1G an hour if my math is correct........You need an unlimited service or lots of Gigs if you are going to use this service remotely for any length of time. I'm not sure if AT&T, who how owns DTV, has a deal for this service? More research is needed.

Anyways...The future is now!  Extreme high quality streaming with lots of selection for a reasonable price.
 
So Roy, Have you used this in your current location only? Have you traveled to different areas with the same results? Are you able to get local channels? Can you record or DVR channels? Do you watch sports channels? Do you have movie channels on your Comcast and if so are they on DirecTV now. How much will DirecTV Now and internet service capable of handling enough streaming cost compared to your current cable and internet service? Do you have the same amount and types of channels on DirecTV Now as you do on your cable? I assume your Comcast internet service is now unlimited for all internet and not just for streaming? It's really important to compare apples to apples. Chuck
 
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