The streaming service, formerly called DirecTV Now, will jump in price from $50 to $65 a month for customers who are signed up for its smallest bundle of channels. All other packages will increase by $10 a month. The price increases take effect Nov. 19.
In a statement, AT&T said it’s adjusting pricing “to reflect the cost to deliver content to our customers.”
AT&T has struggled to turn streaming into a moneymaker, as more and more of its customers cancel cable and satellite TV. Company leaders initially touted AT&T TV Now, the company’s first streaming service, as a preview of AT&T’s entertainment future. But in the past three quarters, the streaming service has lost more than half a million subscribers. It peaked at nearly 1.9 million subscribers, but had 1.3 million subscribers at the end of July.
AT&T launched DirecTV Now in late 2016 with four packages that started at $35 a month for 60 channels. It’s raised the price several times and rebranded it as AT&T TV Now this past summer. AT&T TV Now offers a cablelike lineup of live channels, but at a lower price and without a long-term contract or cable box.
AT&T debuted a streaming service as a way to keep up with customers’ changing habits. It’s lost cable and satellite TV subscribers for 10 consecutive quarters. It had 21.6 million DirecTV and U-verse customers as of late July — about 2 million less than a year earlier.
Investors have challenged AT&T in recent months over its entertainment strategy. Activist investor Elliott Management published a letter last month, criticizing AT&T’s acquisition of DirecTV and Time Warner, now called Warner Media. It laid out a four-point plan to boost AT&T’s lagging performance on the stock market.
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