Americans are video-happy. We eat up Internet bandwidth watching cat videos, sports online, news and conducting business. Without bandwidth, we would still be messing with “rabbit ears” and waiting for our videos to load. Oh, the pain.
Americans are video-happy. We eat up Internet bandwidth watching cat videos, sports online, news and conducting business. Without bandwidth, we would still be messing with “rabbit ears” and waiting for our videos to load. Oh, the pain.
That’s why we’re pleased that the Federal Communications Commission seems poised to approve AT&T’s pending $67 billion purchase of satellite television giant DirecTV. Make no mistake. This deal represents the future, not the past. And, for consumers, this doesn’t shutter avenues to competition and choice, it opens them with video at its core.
Although it is best known for its telephone, wireless and broadband businesses, AT&T barely makes a dent in the pay television market.
Its television services reach only about 6 million customers, compared to DirecTV’s 20 million U.S. pay-TV subscribers. However, if regulators approve the purchase, AT&T would suddenly become the nation’s second-largest pay television provider behind Comcast.
Technology is changing all aspects of media and communications.
Companies can no longer pretend that doing things the old way will be successful in a world where a new market-disrupting force seems to appear every day. Netflix, for example, was once given up for dead. Now it and other online video services are prospering. Video also is not just seen on our television screen. It is available on our laptops and on our smartphones.
As more new platforms emerge, content providers will find new ways to get video to audiences, a trend that is not going to slow anytime soon.
With DirecTV in its universe, AT&T would be well-positioned to expand into online television as more Americans “cut the cable cord.” AT&T also would gain bargaining leverage with TV networks, sports leagues or TV studios for original shows. We hope that leverage translates into more programming offerings and perhaps even slower rising monthly fees.
The Department of Justice already has approved the deal, and FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has submitted a draft order that the full commission is likely to approve soon. Important is the fact that Wheeler’s proposal would require AT&T to expand high-speed fiber Internet connections to an additional 12.5 million customers, more than tripling the number of metropolitan areas AT&T has announced plans to serve. As much as business and entertainment choices revolve around high-speed Internet connections, it is important that communities are not left behind.
This is an impressive opportunity for consumers and AT&T. Landlines, wireless, satellite, internet, television and online video services are more alike than they are different.
Content is available to audiences on the audience’s schedule because consumers demand it. AT&T now seems to be answering the demand.
— The Dallas Morning News