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  • Q4-2015: DirecTV’s subscription numbers up, but ATT Entertainment reports lower video subscribers

    Q4-2015: DirecTV’s subscription numbers up, but ATT Entertainment reports lower video subscribers

    BENGALURU:  AT&T Inc., (ATT), claimant to the largest Pay TV services title in the world reported a net QoQ decline of 26,000 subscribers for the quarter ended December 31, 2015 (Q4-2015, current quarter) for its Entertainment Group (Entertainment). This despite the fact that its recent acquisition DirecTV reported a 1.1 percent QoQ increase (214,000 net additions) in Q4-2015 at 197.84 lakh as compared to 195.70 lakh in Q3-2015. ATT’s other Entertainment segment, the triple play U-verse (broadband internet, IP Telephony and IPTV services) reported a decline of 240,000 video subscribers in the current quarter at 56.14 lakh as compared to 58.54 lakh in the immediate trailing quarter. ATT says that its Entertainment Group focused on profitability and increasingly emphasized satellite sales, including U-verse subscribers switching to satellite.

     

    At December 31, 2015, Entertainment had approximately 522 lakh revenue connections, compared to 344 lakh at December 31, 2014, which included:  Approximately 254 lakh video connections at December 31, 2015 compared to 59 lakh at December 31, 2014. DirecTV’s satellite subscribers as of the July 24, 2015 acquisition date was 195 lakh.; Approximately 143 lakh broadband connections at December 31, 2015 compared to 144 lakh at December 31, 2014. During Q4-2015, ATT’s Entertainment added 171,000 U-verse High Speed Internet subscribers, for a total of 124 lakh at December 31, 2015. Total broadband subscribers declined by 37,000 in the quarter due in part to fewer U-verse sales promotions; Approximately 125 lakh wired voice connections at December 31, 2015 compared to 140 lakh at December 31, 2014. Voice connections include switched access lines and VoIP connections.

     

    “We now have a unique set of capabilities that positions us for growth and also gives us a strategic advantage in providing consumers and businesses the integrated mobile, video and data solutions they want,” said AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson.

     

    “Our DirecTV integration is going well, and the customer response to our new integrated mobile and entertainment offers is strong. Throughout this year, we plan to launch a variety of new video entertainment packages that give customers even more choices. We’re also seeing terrific results from our expansion into the Mexican mobile market. Our LTE network now covers 355 million people and businesses, and in the quarter we had 2.8 million wireless net additions,” Stephenson added.

     

    ATT’s Entertainment Group (Entertainment) segment includes the results of the US satellite-based operations acquired in July 2015 through the acquisition of DirectTV as well as broadband and wired voice services to residential customers in the US Entertainment revenues for the fourth quarter Q4-2015 were $13.0 billion, more than double the year-ago quarter due to the acquisition of DirecTV as well as strong growth in consumer IP broadband and video, which more than offset lower revenues from legacy voice and data products. Q- 2015 Entertainment operating expenses totalled $11.5 billion compared to $5.9 billion in the fourth quarter of 2014, largely due to the acquisition of DirecTV. The Entertainment operating margin was 11.1 percent, compared to (5.3) percent in the year-earlier quarter with satellite and IP revenue growth and cost efficiencies largely offsetting programming content cost pressure and declines in legacy services.

  • Q3-2015: DirecTV acquisition jacks up AT&T revenue 18.9%

    Q3-2015: DirecTV acquisition jacks up AT&T revenue 18.9%

    BENGALURU: The claimant to the world’s largest Pay TV service provider title in terms of subscriber’s, AT&T reported 26000 net domestic video subscriber adds to its recently acquired company DirecTV in the quarter ended 30 September, 2015 (Q3-2105, current quarter). However, the company lost 92000 of its Uverse (Fiber Optic) Pay TV subscribers in the US and 178,000 video subscribers in total including from its International segment.

     

    Note: 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10 million = 1 crore

    Subscription numbers have been mentioned in lakhs and revenue and other financial numbers in millions of US dollars.

     

    Four segments add to AT&T’s numbers – Business Solutions; Entertainment and Internet Services (EIS); AT&T Mobility; and International. In this report, numbers of two have been considered – EIS and International since they relate to video and wireless broadband.

     

    AT&T’s GAAP revenue in the current quarter increased 18.1 per cent to $39,091 million as compared to the $33,105 million in the immediate trailing quarter. The company reported a 4.3 per cent decline in GAAP net income attributable to AT&T of $2994 million as compared to the $3,130 million in Q3-2015. The company says that revenue growth in the current quarter was driven by the DirecTV acquisition, which added sales and created cost synergies.

     

    At the time of the DirecTV acquisition, AT&T said that it had about 26 million video customers in the United States and more than 19.1 million customers in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean, including DirecTV subscribers. As on 30 September, 2015, AT&T has reported 379.94 lakh video subscribers, of which 195.7 lakh are DirecTV connections and 58.54 lakh are Uverse connections in the US.

     

    “We now have integrated solutions that are unlike any competitor in the market. With our national wireless and video capabilities, as well as our extensive broadband network, we now have assets that make us a unique competitor and the first scaled, fully-integrated US service provider,” said AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson.

     

    “We turned in outstanding financial results in the quarter. Our early integration efforts with DirecTV are going very well and we’ve just begun to scratch the surface on the video, wireless and broadband cross-selling opportunities,” Stephenson added.

     

    AT&T’s EIS segment had 526.37 lakh revenue connections as on 30 September, 2015 including 128.91 lakh legacy voice wireline connections besides video and broadband internet connections.

     

    As a consequence of the DirecTV acquisition on 24 July, 2015 and subsequent restructuring of segments, GAAP operating video revenue of the Entertainment and Internet services segment in the current quarter multiplied to $7162 million as compared to the $1719 million in the corresponding year ago quarter. Besides, the company’s International segment also reported Video revenue of $945 million in the current quarter.

     

    AT&T’s EIS segment reported GAAP operating revenue of $10858 million in the current quarter as compared to the $5553 million in Q3-2014 because of the DirectTV acquisition and restructuring. The segment has reported a GAAP operating profit of $1021 million as compared to a loss of $337 million in Q3-2014 and a loss of $208 million in the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    AT&T’s Entertainment and Internet Services (EIS) segment had 143.22 lakh broadband internet subscribers (121.85 lakh IP and 21.37 lakh DSL) as 30 September, 2015 as compared to 144.65 lakh (110.1 lakh IP and 34.53 lakh DSL) in the corresponding year ago quarter. The segment reported GAAP revenue of $1685 million from broadband internet services in the current quarter as compared to the $1414 million in Q3-2014.

     

    Legacy voice and data services reported GAAP revenue of $1419 million in the current quarter as compared to the $1834 million in Q3-2014 and $1516 million in the immediate trailing quarter.

     

    The company’s International segment reported GAAP revenue of $1526 million in the current quarter and an operating loss of $87 million. Figures for the corresponding year ago quarter have not been mentioned.

  • Dish, NAB & others urge FCC to deny Charter-Time Warner Cable merger

    Dish, NAB & others urge FCC to deny Charter-Time Warner Cable merger

    MUMBAI: The Charter Communications, Inc – Time Warner Cable, Inc merger is facing a lot of opposition from broadcasters. 

     

    The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that it should not approve the merger unless it is also willing to change broadcast ownership rules, which limits the number of radio and TV stations that a single entity can own.

     

    Joining the NAB is Dish Network Corp, which has filed a petition with the FCC to deny the proposed merger citing substantial harm to competition and consumers. Additionally, set top box maker Zoom Telephonics also asked the FCC to deny the said merger between the two over the issue of access to third-party modems.

     

    As broadcast ownership rules limit mergers, NAB said that broadcasters have far less negotiating power than big cable companies, which will only get bigger if the FCC allows the latest cable merger to proceed.

     

    According to the NAB, the greater imbalance will harm broadcasters in retransmission consent negotiations, in which cable operators pay broadcast stations for the right to air their channels.

     

    NAB said that if the pending merger was approved, then the top four multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) will control 79 per cent of the nationwide MVPD market, measured in terms of subscribers, and the top three alone, according to SNL Kagan, “will control two-thirds of the video delivery universe.” If consummated, the merger also would exacerbate concentration levels at the local and regional levels, with clear implications for consumers, as empirical research has shown that large, clustered cable companies charge higher prices than smaller, unclustered ones.

     

    The creation of yet another pay-TV behemoth would further competitively disadvantage local broadcast stations kept by outdated ownership rules from achieving a fraction of the vital economies of scale and scope that MVPDs enjoy and, as the FCC has recognized, can advance the public interest. The gross regulatory disparities between the pay-TV and the free-TV industries are illustrated in any number of ways, including the sheer size of MVPDs compared to TV broadcasters. The market capitalization of the combined AT&T/DIRECTV, for example, is more than 200 times larger than the market cap of several of the most sizable broadcast TV companies. New Charter – which the merging parties describe as “modest” in size – will have a market capitalization 72 times larger than some of the biggest broadcast TV station groups. Beyond this national scale, single pay-TV providers control access to significant percentages of viewers in many local markets. Even standing alone, Time Warner Cable (TWC), for instance, controls over 40 percent of the total MVPD market in 30 different Designated Market Areas (DMAs), and in eight DMAs, TWC’s share of the entire MVPD market exceeds 60 percent. Broadcast TV stations unable to combine under the FCC’s local TV ownership rule are at a notable disadvantage in negotiating retransmission consent agreements with such locally and nationally consolidated MVPDs.

     

    On the other hand, Dish Network Corp’s petition to deny the merger, outlines, among other things, the critical role that high-speed broadband plays in the video industry and the potential for the merger to significantly damage competitive development of over-the-top (OTT) video and limit consumer access to online video programming.

     

    Dish Network said that the merger presents risk of significant harms:

     

    New Parties, Same Harms: The proposed transaction would be no better for the public interest than the one proposed between Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

     

    A Suffocating Duopoly: The transaction will create a suffocating duopoly. Where a Comcast/Time Warner Cable merger would have created one behemoth, this transaction will result in two broadband providers (Comcast and New Charter) controlling about 90 per cent of the nation’s high-speed broadband homes between them.

     

    Threats to Online Video: The top two cable providers post-merger will not need to collude in order to bring their collective weight to bear on an online video distributor (OVD). Parallel foreclosures, with one of the two following the other, would be enough for an OVD to be shut off from most of the homes in the country.

     

    Concentration of Broadband Subscribers: The impact of New Charter would cause a significant proportion of the combined company’s high-speed broadband subscribers to lack access to alternative high-speed broadband options. Indeed, Charter admits that almost two-thirds of households in the New Charter footprint will not have access to at least one alternative high-speed broadband provider. For these customers, switching ISPs is not just an inconvenience, but an impossibility.

     

    Choke Points on the Charter/TWC Broadband Network: New Charter would have a panoply of foreclosure techniques at its disposal. It would be able to foreclose or degrade the online video offerings of competing MVPD and OTT video providers at any of three “choke points”: (1) the points of interconnection to the combined company’s broadband network, in effect the “on ramp” to the New Charter network; (2) the “public Internet” portion of the pipe to the consumer’s home; and (3) managed or specialised service channels, which can act as super HOV-lanes and squeeze the capacity of the “public Internet” portion of the New Charter broadband pipe. In addition, New Charter would have increased leverage that it could use to coerce third-party content owners and programmers to withhold online rights from online video platforms, thereby stifling a source of competition and innovation in the video industry.

     

    Sling TV CEO Roger Lynch states, “I believe that the proposed merger…. would cause significant and irreparable harm to emerging competitive online video products and services, as well as the performance of traditional satellite television service, ultimately reducing competition and choice for consumers. Accordingly, I believe that the merger as currently constructed is not in the public interest and should be denied.”

  • AT&T – DirecTV’s $48.5 billion merger gets FCC nod

    AT&T – DirecTV’s $48.5 billion merger gets FCC nod

    MUMBAI: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has granted the approval of the transfer of control of licenses and authorizations from DirecTV to AT&T Inc. 

     

    The approval will allow AT&T to acquire DirecTV for a sum of $48.5 billion and merge the two companies into one combined entity. 

     

    FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said that he had approved the deal with certain conditions, which are applicable for the next four years. 

     

    The newly combined company – the largest pay TV provider in the United States and the world – will offer millions of people more choices for video entertainment on any screen from almost anywhere, any time. 

     

    “Combining DirecTV with AT&T is all about giving customers more choices for great video entertainment integrated with mobile and high-speed Internet service. We’ll now be able to meet consumers’ future entertainment preferences, whether they want traditional TV service with premier programming, their favorite content on a mobile device, or video streamed over the Internet to any screen. This transaction allows us to significantly expand our high-speed Internet service to reach millions more households, which is a perfect complement to our coast-to-coast TV and mobile coverage,” Stephenson said. “We’re now a fundamentally different company with a diversified set of capabilities and businesses that set us apart from the competition,” said AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson. 

     

    AT&T now is the largest pay TV provider in the US and the world, providing service to more than 26 million customers in the US and more than 191 million customers in Latin America, including Mexico and the Caribbean. Additionally, AT&T has more than 132 million wireless subscribers and connections in the US and Mexico; offers 4G LTE mobile coverage to nearly 310 million people in the US; covers 57 million US customer locations with high-speed Internet; and has nearly 16 million subscribers to its high-speed Internet service. 

     

    Current customers of AT&T and DirecTV do not need to do anything as a result of the merger. They’ll continue to receive their same services, channel lineups, and customer care. The integration of AT&T and DirecTV will occur over the coming months. In the coming weeks, AT&T will launch new integrated TV, mobile and high-speed Internet offers that give customers greater value and convenience. 

     

    With the completion of its DirecTV acquisition, AT&T will continue to deploy its all-fiber GigaPower Internet access service – the company’s highest-speed Internet service, which allows you to download a TV show in as little as three seconds. When the expansion is complete, AT&T’s all-fiber broadband footprint will reach more than 14 million customer locations. 

     

    AT&T also announced that John Stankey will be CEO of AT&T Entertainment & Internet Services, responsible for leading its combined DirecTV and AT&T Home Solutions operations. Stankey will report to Stephenson. DirecTV president, chairman and CEO Mike White will now retire. 

     

    “Mike is one of the world’s top CEOs and a great leader who built DirecTV into a premier TV and video entertainment company spanning the US and Latin America. He has been a terrific partner and friend, and his legacy will be an important part of our combined company,” Stephenson said. 

     

    AT&T is also developing unique video offerings for consumers through, among other initiatives, its Otter Media joint venture with The Chernin Group. The joint venture was established to invest in, acquire and launch over-the-top (OTT) video services. This includes its purchase of a majority stake in Fullscreen, a global online media company that works with more than 50,000 content creators who engage 450 million subscribers and generate 4 billion monthly views. 

     

    Under the terms of the merger, DirecTV shareholders received 1.892 shares of AT&T common stock, in addition to $28.50 in cash, per share of DirecTV. 

     

    The DirecTV acquisition significantly diversifies AT&T’s revenue mix, products, geographies and customer bases. As a result of this acquisition, as well as AT&T’s acquisition of Iusacell and Nextel Mexico, AT&T expects that, by the end of 2015, its largest revenue streams will be, in descending order: Business Solutions (both wireless and wireline); Entertainment & Internet; Consumer Mobility; and International Mobility and Video. 

     

    As part of FCC’s approval of the transaction, AT&T has agreed to the following conditions for the next four years: 

     

    1) Within four years, AT&T will offer its all-fiber Internet access service to at least 12.5 million customer locations, such as residences, home offices and very small businesses. Combined with AT&T’s existing high-speed broadband network, at least 25.7 million customer locations will have access to broadband speeds of 45Mbps or higher. 

     

    2) Within its wireline footprint, the company will offer 1Gbps service to any eligible school or library requesting E-rate services, pursuant to applicable rules, within the company’s all-fiber footprint. 

     

    3) Within AT&T’s 21-state wireline footprint, it will offer discounted fixed broadband service to low-income households that qualify for the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. In locations where it’s available, service with speeds of at least 10Mbps will be offered for $10 per month. Elsewhere, 5Mbps service will be offered for $10 per month or, in some locations, 3Mbps service will be offered for $5 per month. 

     

    4) AT&T’s retail terms and conditions for its fixed broadband Internet services will not favor its own online video programming services. AT&T can and will, however, continue to offer discounted integrated bundles of its video and high-speed Internet services. 

     

    5) AT&T must submit to the FCC new interconnection agreements it enters into with peering networks and on-net customers for the exchange of Internet traffic. The company will develop, in conjunction with an independent expert, a methodology for measuring the performance of its Internet traffic exchange and regularly report these metrics to the FCC. 

     

    6) AT&T will appoint a Company Compliance Officer to develop and implement a plan to ensure compliance with these merger conditions. Also, the company will engage an independent, third-party compliance officer to evaluate the plan and its implementation, and submit periodic reports to the FCC.

  • DirecTV launches two satellites to increase HD & 4K capacity

    DirecTV launches two satellites to increase HD & 4K capacity

    MUMBAI: DirecTV is expanding its satellite fleet in both the US and Latin America with the dual launch of two new spacecraft that will significantly increase HD capacity, further secure the future of 4K Ultra HD and backup DirecTV ’s existing satellite fleet.

     

    DirecTV -15 (D-15), a versatile all CONUS (Continental United States, including Hawaii, Alaska and Puerto Rico) beam satellite, and Sky Mexico-1 (SKYM-1), Sky Mexico’s first owned-and-operated satellite has been successfully launched on a single ARIANE 5 launch vehicle operated by Arianespace from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

     

    D-15, a more than six ton spacecraft designed and built by Airbus Defence and Space, will be the first DirecTV satellite with the capability to operate in all five DirecTV US orbital slots and in all frequency bands (Ku, Ka and Reverse Band). This is the first all CONUS beam DirecTV satellite to launch in 10 years, and it will expand national capacity for both HD and 4K Ultra HD channels, as well as provide critical backup for existing CONUS transponders.

     

    Controllers made contact with both satellites confirming that all systems are functioning properly.

     

    “We congratulate the launch team and our partners, Arianespace, Airbus Defence and Space, and Orbital ATK on a spectacular and historic launch. D-15, the most versatile spacecraft in the fleet and the robust SKYM-1, secure DirecTV ’s ability to continue delivering the best video experience with the most advanced technology,” said DirecTV senior vice president, space and communications Phil Goswitz.

     

    SKYM-1, weighing in at more than three tons, was built by Orbital ATK on its flight-proven GEOStar-2 platform. The new satellite will double HD capacity for Sky Mexico and provide direct-to-home broadcast services to Mexico, Central America, Cuba and the Caribbean.

     

    D-15, the seventeenth satellite launched for DirecTV and the twelfth owned and currently operated satellite in the DirecTV fleet, will be positioned at 103 degrees West longitude and is designed to provide service for more than 15 years.

     

    SKYM-1 will be positioned at the 79 degrees West longitude orbital slot adding to the IS-21 satellite capabilities at 58 degrees West longitude, and will have a life span of more than 18 years.

     

    In December of 2014 DirecTV successfully launched D-14, which became operational in Q2 of this year.

  • DirecTV offers 100+ channels on portable devices in US

    DirecTV offers 100+ channels on portable devices in US

    NEW DELHI: Twenty-two new channels have been added to DirecTV’s mobile app making it possible for American subscribers to see more channels out of home on smartphones and portable devices.

     

    DirecTV already has 90 ‘out-of-home’ channel on its app. The new channels include MTV, Comedy Central, TBS, Spike, OWN and TNT. 

     

    The full list of new DirecTV Everywhere live streaming channels includes BET, Cartoon Network, CMT, CNN, Comedy Central, Galavision, HLN, MTV, MTV2, Nickelodeon East, OWN, Palladia, Smithsonian Channel, Spike, TBS, TCM, TNT, truTV, TV Land, UniMas, Univision East, and VH1.

     

    Thus, viewers who install the DirecTV free app will now have access to more than one hundred TV channels on portable modes.

     

  • FCC proposes rules for satellite TV market modification

    FCC proposes rules for satellite TV market modification

    MUMBAI: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed modifying satellite television market rules to enable satellite subscribers to gain access to in-state news and other programming that they currently are unable to receive. The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking implements Section 102 of the STELA Reauthorization Act of 2014 (STELAR). 

     

    The proposal would, as Congress directed, create regulatory parity between satellite and cable television providers. Federal law requires satellite television carriers, such as DIRECTV and DISH Network, to use the Nielsen Company’s Designated Market Area (DMA) assignments to determine, which TV broadcast stations to carry and include in their local programming packages to subscribers. DMAs describe a station’s local television market in terms of a unique group of counties and are defined by Nielsen based on measured viewing patterns. DMAs frequently cross state lines and thus may include counties from multiple states.

     

    Where these multistate DMAs exist, satellite subscribers located in certain out-of-state counties within a DMA (so-called “orphan counties”) are sometimes unable to receive in-state broadcast television stations. This means that some satellite subscribers may lack access to in-state news, sports, public affairs, political information and emergency information, such as severe weather alerts, school closings, road closures and other breaking news. In addition, some of these subscribers may be located in rural areas which are unable to receive in-state stations by means of over-the-air reception and which may have limited, if any, broadband service.

     

    Congress, through Section 102 of the STELAR, gave the Commission authority to modify a commercial television station’s local television market for purposes of satellite carriage rights. Prior to the STELAR, the Commission had authority to modify markets only in the cable carriage context. The Commission proposes to apply the existing cable rule to the satellite carriage context, while adding rules to address the unique nature of satellite television service, such as giving carriers an exception if the resulting carriage is “not technically and economically feasible.” Market modification allows the Commission, on request from a broadcaster or cable operator, to add or delete communities from a particular commercial TV broadcast station’s local television market to better reflect market realities.

     

    The STELAR requires the Commission to issue final rules for satellite television market modification on or before 4 September, 2015.

  • Global pay TV subscriber base to surpass 1.1 billion in 2020

    Global pay TV subscriber base to surpass 1.1 billion in 2020

    MUMBAI: The worldwide pay TV market grew at a steady rate of four per cent in 2014 to reach 923.5 million subscribers according to a recent study by ABI Research.

     

    “Despite the growth in subscriber base, weak currency exchange rates resulted in a slower increase of pay TV market service revenue. Worldwide the pay TV market generated $257 billion in 2014 and is expected to surpass 1.1 billion subscribers in 2020 with a CAGR 2.7 per cent,” said Core Forecasting VP and practice director Jake Saunders.

     

    Cable and terrestrial TV markets had weaker growth rates in 2014 compared to satellite and IPTV platforms. However, high definition (HD) penetration is increasing across all pay TV platforms because of the increasing number of HD channels added by operators. In 2014, 44 per cent of the worldwide pay TV subscriber base were HD subscribers, with the highest HD penetration in Western Europe and North America. HD penetration is expected to reach 60 per cent of the total pay TV market in 2020.

     

    Pay TV operators are now moving towards 4K or Ultra HD service. In November, US satellite operator DirecTV launched its first 4K programming without any additional monthly charges to subscribers with its HD DVR, Genie and DirecTV 4K Ready television set, which is any of Samsung’s Smart 4K TV models. Online video streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon also started to offer 4K content in late 2014. When content availability and 4K TV set adoption increase, 4K services are likely to become a differentiator for pay TV service providers.

     

    In 4Q 2014, US cable operators lost roughly 100,000 subscribers while Comcast gained 7,000 subscribers. The country’s largest satellite TV provider, DirecTV gained 149,000 subscribers in 4Q 2014, which is the highest net addition since 2012.

     

    “As competition in the pay TV market increases, quality of content, innovations, and service pricing are among the important factors for pay TV operators to maintain customer base. ABI Research forecasts that the global pay TV market will generate $313 billion service revenues by 2020,” added industry analyst Khin Sandi Lynn.

  • US Federal Trade Commission sues DirectTV for cheating consumers

    US Federal Trade Commission sues DirectTV for cheating consumers

     NEW DELHI: The broadcasting giant DirecTV is facing a lawsuit from American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleging that the pay TV operator has deliberately misled millions of subscribers about the costs of viewing its programme line up.

     

    The action has started at a Federal Court in San Francisco.

     

    The FTC states that DirecTV “deceptively advertised” an apparent one-year subscription contract but failed to tell consumers that viewers would be committing to a two-year contract.

     

    The FTC says a large portion of DirecTV’s subscribers could be affected. Moreover, the second year was going to be much more expensive for viewers, and that hefty cancellation charges would be levied if subscribers cancelled.

     

    FTC Consumer Protection Bureau head Jessica Rich said, “We require businesses to be truthful and to give consumers the information they need to make informed choices about goods and services. Companies cannot hide important information from consumers to trick them into buying goods and services — and that’s what we allege DirecTV did.”

     

    DirecTV denies any deception, saying that it has worked hard to make the ordering process as clear as possible, and that either in writing or via a web-based order or verbally if ordered over the phone, all its terms and conditions are explained.

  • AT&T-DirecTV deal gets clearance from Mexico, US still undecided

    AT&T-DirecTV deal gets clearance from Mexico, US still undecided

    NEW DELHI: The controversial acquisition of DirecTV by AT&T has received the necessary approval from Mexico’s Federal Telecommunications Institute (IFT).

     

    Earlier, AT&T received approval in Brazil and Trinidad and Tobago.  AT&T has also filed an informational notice with the Hawaii Commission.

     
    However, AT&T is yet to receive the necessary approvals from the Federation Communications Commission in the United States.

     

    AT&T has already said it will invest further in mobile internet, a condition set by the US. Following the merger, AT&T will expand its deployment of both wireline and fixed wireless internet to cover at least 15 million customer locations across 48 states – most of them in underserved rural areas.

     

    The merger review process was completed among regulators at the US state level in July. AT&T said its petitions with the Public Service Commissions in Louisiana and Arizona did not receive protests or interventions and the petitions were deemed approved in July.