Speaking at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch media conference yesterday, John Stankey, senior executive vice president of AT&T — who is designated to be CEO of its Time Warner unit, a $85.4 billion deal yet to be completed — warned customers that disasters could bring significant changes in TV service.
“You see customers who lose their homes make a decision to disconnect the service. Then they go through a cycle of finding someplace else to live,” he said. “There isn't always perfect timing. One day in and one day out.”
With regard to its satellite pay TV business DirecTV, Stankey added: “We have put a lot of infrastructure in the ground ... exposed to high winds and water and that typically means damage. We don't know what the impact of Irma is going to be at this point, what's going to happen. We do know that Harvey's damage is widespread.”
Earlier in the day, Matt Strauss, executive vice president of the Comcast’s Xfinity services, said the company could lose 100,000 to 150,000 subscribers, in part, due to the hurricanes.
Stankey said the best example might be Hurricane Katrina, which hit New Orleans in 2005. But the pay TV business was still growing back then.
Now, he says, the traditional pay TV business is heading south. DirecTV may be in a better position, given its efforts to sell different products, such as DirecTV Now, the live, linear TV package of TV networks delivered via the internet.
No comments:
Post a Comment