AT&T Bleeds Almost 1 Million DirecTV Customers Due To Price Gouging

The cord-cutting movement is going strong, and people all around the world are shedding cable and satellite TV programming. The problem is as more people cut the cord and went with streaming options, prices for internet connectivity have gone up, and pricing on streaming services continually increase.

AT&T's DirecTV Now has seen several price increases and has had networks cut from the service. The price increase of the service left it with a class action lawsuit alleging bait and switch pricing. Not surprisingly, AT&T's DirecTV bled subscribers to the tune of nearly a million in Q2 2019.

The exact number of subscriber losses that DirecTV suffered in Q2 2019 is 946,000. The company attributed the decline to price increases, competition, and other factors. Looking closer at the massive number of subscriber losses, there were 778,000 losses in the "Premium TV" category including DirecTV satellite and U-verse wireline TV services. The losses in this segment were attributed to an increase in customers losing promotional discounts, competition, and lower gross adds due to a focus on long-term value customer base.

AT&T's DirecTV Now streaming service lost 168,000 subscribers due to higher pricing and reduced promotional activity. A high number of subscribers aren't tolerating the price increases and loss of discounts. With the Premium TV losses figured in, AT&T still has 21.6 million customers in that category. DirecTV Now losses brings it to 1.3 million customers.

In Q1 2019, AT&T saw a total of 627,000 subscribers cancel service. AT&T has warned that it expects similar levels of video customer losses to continue in the current quarter. AT&T also lost 34,000 residential broadband subscribers in the quarter. The TV provider is trying to increase streaming profits by introducing HBO Max later this year and pulling some Time Warner content from Netflix to give HBO Max exclusives.