AT&T Is Testing Investors’ Patience
DirecTV remains a sore spot as the clock ticks for the wireless carrier to meet its debt-reduction goals.
Please stand by.
Photographer: Christopher Dilts/BloombergAT&T Inc. had a plan: Make the DirecTV business more profitable and accept that it would need to sacrifice some subscribers in the process. But so far, it’s still only doing the latter part — losing customers.
More than 400,000 subscribers quit AT&T’s DirecTV satellite service in the fourth quarter, for an eye-popping total loss of 1.24 million for the year, the company reported Wednesday morning. Perhaps more troubling though, its relatively new DirecTV Now streaming offering, which is supposed to be an area of growth, lost 267,000 subscribers as it eliminated promotional pricing. That’s 14 percent of its DirecTV Now subscriber base. AT&T’s share price slumped following the earnings announcement.