Proud cord cutters and cord nevers are clearly impacting the pay TV industry, and that’s requiring some new thinking around pricing models. Looking to pick up more subscribers for its DirecTV offering, AT&T announced a two-year price lock on bundles yesterday, saying that customers can save more than 40 percent on a triple play.
Consumers can get the DirecTV Select package for $50 a month, locked in for two years if they add it to an eligible new or existing AT&T service, like wireless or home Internet. Taking on customers’ disdain for equipment fees, the company says those fees for up to four TV receivers are now built into the cost and also are guaranteed for two years.
DirecTV subs can add home Internet service with speeds up to 6 megabits per second for $30 a month more and locked in for two years with the WiFi gateway included. Paying for both services on one bill also gets customers unlimited home Internet data , which AT&T says is worth $30 a month.
AT&T also is offering home voice service for two years for $9.99 per month if customers buy it along with two other services, such as TV, broadband or wireless.
How many cord cutters and nevers pick up on this bundle remains to be seen, but service providers like AT&T undoubtedly are looking for new ways to tackle what is an ever-growing challenge.
“TV is as beloved as ever, even as today’s TV distribution model faces a gradually increasing threat,” Forester Research’s James L. McQuivey said last year in a report about cord nevers. “By 2025, 50 percent of all TV viewers under age 32 will not pay for TV as we understand it today.”