{"id":6009,"date":"2020-04-23T11:40:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T11:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/icrowdnewswire.com\/?p=2526826"},"modified":"2020-04-23T11:40:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-23T11:40:00","slug":"atts-massive-tv-losses-continue-as-another-900000-customers-flee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/04\/23\/atts-massive-tv-losses-continue-as-another-900000-customers-flee\/","title":{"rendered":"AT&T’s massive TV losses continue as another 900,000 customers flee"},"content":{"rendered":"

AT&T has lost millions of TV customers in past year, plans billions in cost cuts.<\/h2>\n
\"An<\/section>\n
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AT&T lost another 897,000 premium TV subscribers in Q1 2020, as the DirecTV owner’s string of massive customer losses continued. An AT&T executive today said the company is moving ahead with a company-wide cost-cutting program.<\/p>\n

AT&T’s earnings announcement<\/a> today said the 897,000-customer net loss reduced the total number of premium TV subscribers to 18.6 million. AT&T said<\/a> the latest customer loss was “due to competition and customers rolling off promotional discounts as well as lower gross adds from the continued focus on adding higher-value customers.”<\/p>\n

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FURTHER READING<\/h3>\n

AT&T’s new online TV has contracts, hidden fees, big 2nd-year price hike<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

AT&T’s premium TV category includes DirecTV, U-verse TV, and the new AT&T TV online offering that mimics cable and satellite<\/a> services by imposing contracts, hidden fees, and a big second-year price hike. In 2019, AT&T lost 3.43 million<\/a> premium TV customers, an average of nearly 860,000 per quarter.<\/p>\n

AT&T hasn’t done much to stop subscriber losses, as the company seems focused on raising the average revenue per customer instead of offering deals that would entice people to stick around.<\/p>\n

The company today also reported a 138,000-subscriber net loss in AT&T TV Now, a streaming service that’s separate from the premium TV category. AT&T TV Now is down to 788,000 subscribers, only a year after AT&T reported more than 1.5 million subscribers to the service. Formerly known as DirecTV Now<\/a>, the streaming service hit a peak of 1.86 million subscribers on September 30, 2018, before customers started canceling as their discounts expired. AT&T attributed the latest customer loss to “higher prices and less promotional activity.”<\/p>\n

Video-service revenue in the quarter was $7.4 billion, “down 8.4 percent year over year due to declines” in TV subscribers, “partially offset by higher” average revenue per user, AT&T said. Video is part of the AT&T Entertainment Group, which also includes broadband and landline phone services. The Entertainment Group reported operating revenue of $10.5 billion in Q1, down 7.2 percent year over year due to declines in video “and legacy services,” AT&T said. Operating income in the group was $1.3 billion, down 9.7 percent year over year.<\/p>\n

Going forward, AT&T has expressed high hopes for HBO Max, a $15-per-month service that’s due to launch on May 27. AT&T has set a goal<\/a> of 50 million HBO Max subscribers in the United States within five years, but plans to include HBO Max with certain mobile, TV, and Internet plans<\/a> mean that many customers will get it for no extra charge.<\/p>\n

Cost-cutting in progress<\/h2>\n

As we reported in early March<\/a>, AT&T is planning tens of billions of dollars’ worth of cost cuts, including job cuts, over the next three years. Today, AT&T COO John Stankey told investors that “we’re not backing off our cost and efficiency transformation initiatives that remain largely under our control,” according to Light Reading<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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FURTHER READING<\/h3>\n

Struggling AT&T plans “tens of billions” in cost cuts, more layoffs<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The first of those cost-cutting efforts “focus on AT&T’s retail and third-party distribution operation” and the company’s field operations, the Light Reading article said. Those two cost-cutting efforts are “now underway” and “would cut a combined $1 billion in recurring costs from the operator’s bottom line,” Light Reading reported. Stankey said AT&T will try to get more efficient at solving customer problems so the company can reduce the number of technician visits to customer homes.<\/p>\n

DSL-customer losses outstrip fiber gains<\/h2>\n

As for home Internet service, AT&T added 209,000 fiber customers in Q1 but lost 73,000 customers overall as the decline of DSL continued. AT&T said the 73,000-customer net loss was caused by “competition in slower speed territories and loss of bundled video subscribers, partially offset by recent higher demand and lower churn due to the COVID-19 crisis.” AT&T has 4.1 million fiber-Internet customers and 14.05 million Internet customers overall, down from 14.45 million a year ago.<\/p>\n

AT&T mobile revenue was $17.4 billion, up 0.2 percent year over year. Operating income in AT&T’s mobile division was $5.8 billion, up 9 percent.<\/p>\n

For the entire AT&T Communications division, revenue was $34.2 billion, down 2.6 percent year over year “due to declines in Entertainment Group, wireless equipment and Business Wireline that were partially offset by gains in wireless service revenues,” AT&T said. Total operating income in the quarter was $8.2 billion, up 2.4 percent.<\/p>\n

Across all of AT&T, revenue was $42.8 billion, down from $44.8 billion in last year’s first quarter. Company-wide operating income was $7.5 billion, up from $7.2 billion year over year.<\/p>\n

AT&T said its results “underscored the financial strength and ample liquidity of the business even with current economic conditions” caused by the pandemic. Still, CNBC reported<\/a> that “AT&T’s first-quarter revenue fell short of Wall Street expectations and the company pulled its annual forecast on Wednesday, as the impact of the coronavirus outbreak overshadowed a strong growth in monthly phone subscribers.”<\/p>\n

Advertising revenue “was severely hit due to the postponement of live sports such as March Madness, and lower wireless equipment sales led to a $600 million decline in revenue,” CNBC noted. AT&T’s WarnerMedia division “suffered the brunt of the impact from the pandemic, report[ing] $7.4 billion in revenue, down from $8.4 billion from a year earlier.”<\/p>\n

Correction: This article originally stated that AT&T reported company-wide revenue of $34.2 billion and operating income of $8.2 billion; those numbers are only for the AT&T Communications division.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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See Campaign: <\/strong>https:\/\/about.att.com\/story\/2020\/first_quarter_2020_earnings.html<\/a>
Contact Information:<\/b>
JON BRODKIN <\/p>\n

Tags:<\/b>
<\/a>, Wire<\/a>, United States<\/a>, English<\/a><\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/div>\n

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Contact Information:<\/h3>\n

JON BRODKIN <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

AT&T has lost millions of TV customers in past year, plans billions in cost cuts. AT&T lost another 897,000 premium TV subscribers in Q1 2020, as the DirecTV owner’s string of massive customer losses continued. An AT&T executive today said the company is moving ahead with a company-wide cost-cutting program. AT&T’s earnings announcement today said the 897,000-customer … Continue reading AT&T’s massive TV losses continue as another 900,000 customers flee<\/span><\/a> Continue Reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,22,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english","category-united-states","category-wire"],"yoast_head":"\nAT&T’s massive TV losses continue as another 900,000 customers flee - Business<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ipsnews.net\/business\/2020\/04\/23\/atts-massive-tv-losses-continue-as-another-900000-customers-flee\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"AT&T’s massive TV losses continue as another 900,000 customers flee - Business\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AT&T has lost millions of TV customers in past year, plans billions in cost cuts. AT&T lost another 897,000 premium TV subscribers in Q1 2020, as the DirecTV owner’s string of massive customer losses continued. An AT&T executive today said the company is moving ahead with a company-wide cost-cutting program. 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