AT&T has had a pretty rough 2017. Cord-cutters are setting new records for ditching traditional pay-TV. An estimated 1.2 million people ditched cable and satellite subscription services in July, August, and September alone. AT&T thinks that the solution to customers leaving? Raise prices even more.
TV Predictions spotted several upcoming changes to DirecTV pricing, and these new price changes will take effect in the new year. Depending on what DirecTV package you have, the price increase will be anywhere from $2 to $8 per package. There’s also another fee called “Regional Sports Fee” that some areas will see, which is a nice way of AT&T charging customer twice for the content they’re already paying for.
“Due to higher costs of programming, the monthly rate for the below services will increase on January 21, 2018, and the changes will appear in billing statements starting on that date,” AT&T reportedly said in a statement.
Even though these prices are hitting DirecTV subscribers, it’s likely that it won’t end there. Those of you who use the online DirecTV Now service will most likely also see increases in pricing for your selected packages, AT&T CFO John Stephens hinted to analysts last month.
AT&T is set to introduce a few neat features like cloud DVR and pay-per-view events. In this case, AT&T plans to increase pricing to justify bringing those features. DirecTV Now competitors Sling and YouTube TV already offer these features, so it’s unclear at this point how AT&T will increase its revenue by adding such features that are available on competitor platforms.
