AT&T recently received final approval to acquire DirecTV in a deal estimated to be worth around $69 billion, and this week detailed some of the changes coming down the road for users at the company's analyst day. For one, the company announced it will be moving away from its current U-Verse TV set top gear, and migrating U-Verse customers to a "derivative" of the equipment currently used by DirecTV.
The company stated that they're
developing a new gateway that will allow third-party broadband connections, LTE connections and AT&T broadband connections.
AT&T executive John Stankey said that the carrier is moving to "one consistent architecture" for all TV and broadband users that will involve "very thin hardware profiles," likely a nod to cloud DVR support. The company's set top, router and gateway hardware "will become a consolidated, single platform over the next 24-36 months."
"The evolution of our customer experience will bring legacy U-verse and DirecTV customers to a new and common customer experience with personalization features, user controls, and the ability to manage managed and unmanaged content," Stankey said.
AT&T has already started bundling DirecTV service with wireless plans, but it's expected they'll ultimately begin working on also pitching some kind of fixed wireless effort.
Wall Street never really liked this deal. Even after this week's details, Stock jocks are still skeptical that AT&T can nab the $2.5 billion in promised "synergies" from the deal before the cord cutting clock strikes midnight for the traditional pay TV industry.
While the added subscribers do give AT&T additional leverage in programming negotiations, buying a satellite TV provider on the eve of the cord cutting revolution is seen by some as a misappropriation of funds that could be spent on wireless and/or fixed-line broadband networks.
Wireless expansion can always use the additional resources. On the Fixed-line broadband front U-Verse is, after all, struggling to match
current gen cable broadband speeds, and the cable sector will begin deploying even faster DOCSIS 3.1 gigabit-capable technology late next year, likely putting AT&T even further behind the curve.