AT&T announced the company will be offering not one but three new DirecTV branded Internet video services sometime late this year. All three of the options are aimed at delivering DirecTV television content without the need to attach a satellite dish to your house. In other words, AT&T's taking DirecTV nationwide in what sounds like a mammoth over-the-top streaming video play. The offerings vary slightly; one subscription offering much like Dish's Sling TV, one subscription offer aimed specifically at wireless customers, and one ad-supported service aimed at Millennials.
AT&T clearly hopes that one of the three services will succeed where so many ISP streaming services have failed. Given that such services can cannibalize existing pay TV subscribers, telecom companies often hamstring such offers resulting in a parade of dull services that fail in the market.
AT&T executives insist these new services will be different.
“We are looking at these offerings differently than others in the market. We often hear from customers who want more content from streaming services, or who can’t get or can’t afford a traditional pay-TV service,” says AT&T exec John Stankey.
“We intend to offer customers a quality pay-TV experience, including top channels, sports and more, with increased value and flexibility of pure online streaming and no need for home installation.”
Whether customers are actually interested will depend heavily on how much the services cost, something AT&T isn't yet revealing. Given moves by Verizon, it seems extremely likely that one or all of the options will lean heavily on AT&T's controversial interest in "zero rating," or letting a carrier's own content bypass usage caps.
Source: http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/ATT-to-Offer-DirecTV-Without-the-Satellite-Dish-136405