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AT&T Admits it Wasn't Ready for DirecTV Now Growth

AT&T admits that the growth of the company's DirecTV Now streaming service caught the telecom giant off guard. When AT&T launched its new streaming service DirecTV Now, you'll recall there were more than a few problems, with repeated outages, NFL games being blacked out for no reason, and assorted other issues. And while many of those problems have since been dealt with, the issues left early customers annoyed with the fact they were paying to participate in what they felt was a glorified beta.

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Now AT&T execs are admitting that they weren't ready for the interest they received in their own product.

"It ramped up a lot faster than we ever thought it would, which is a great thing but also caught us a bit flat-footed on a couple things," AT&T executive Bill Hogg said at the Jeffries 2017 Technology Conference in Miami last week.

"Our teams have been working through capacity, have been working through authentication issues, streaming issues," added Hogg. "What we’re seeing is the error rates are declining pretty fast and that the platform is stabilizing."

Initially AT&T downplayed the problems as in line with the company's expectations. That position ultimately evolved into the company admitting it had some issues with user volume, to this admission that they weren't quite ready for prime time.

And while most users say things have improved notably with DirecTV Now, there's continued complaints about sports games being blacked out when they're not supposed to be and random glitches occurring with the DirecTV Now app.

Most recommended from 23 comments



Anonc6e58
@rr.com

6 recommendations

Anonc6e58

Anon

ready for this?

Will the ATT accountants be ready when every directv now customer flocks to a service that actually works properly like Sling or Vue?

Gilitar
join:2012-02-01
Mobile, AL

5 recommendations

Gilitar

Member

Time to go...

I've been hanging around waiting on the DVR function they promised. I've decided to go back to PS Vue if it's not in place very soon.

The Beer
I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
Premium Member
join:2001-07-24
Lincoln, NE

3 recommendations

The Beer

Premium Member

Stable

It's pretty stable now HOWEVER we move on to billing problems. Whatever you do DON'T let your credit card expire.

You get one failed authorization they won't tell you about, they try again the next day THEN cancel your account immediately.

They give you instructions to fix it, but you lose your promo price.

This is where it gets super stupid... you have to get on chat and they will have you subscribe to the $60 tier, plus HBO you pay $65, then they credit you back the $30.

Apparently this will be automated each month, overcharge then credit.

I assume eventually they will stop crediting.

GadgetMan
join:2014-12-20
Bristol, RI

2 recommendations

GadgetMan

Member

Taking Responsibility

Good to see them put them put their 'big boy' pants on and admit they screwed the pooched.
ram1220
join:2009-07-03
Allen, TX

2 recommendations

ram1220

Member

What's The Excuse Now?

Well I just signed up this past Saturday for a trial using a new Amazon Fire TV box. Directv Now is the only app I have that is buffering. Buffers on wired as well as wifi. I have 100/10 internet with Spectrum and it's working great. If I channel up more than 2 channels at a time on the remote I have to restart the app since it freezes up. My other apps all work fine. I can tell you right now that I will be canceling the account before the trial runs out. Between the problems DirecTv Now still has and the lack of any DVR I just can't see paying for it. I will stick with Playstation Vue or Sling. I won't look at DirecTV Now again until they improve their app and also get a DVR. Also I forgot to ad that when it does work the picture quality is horrible. It looks like I am watching an SD program. Again this is the only app I have a problem with.
NeoandGeo
join:2003-05-10
Harrison, TN

2 recommendations

NeoandGeo

Member

DirecTV streaming wasn't ever ready

Streaming DirecTV programming either live or online DVR has always been an absolute pain to use since it was implemented. Having to install a separate program to even attempt to access it wasn't that bad, but actually getting it to work was beyond infuriating. It's absolutely pathetic that in the world of paid cable streaming companion services, Comcast by far is the most intuitive and offers a service that works with very little downtime. DirecTV should have been on top of this a long time ago, but simply don't give a s*** about it.