AT&T’s DirecTV Now, OTT TV streaming service surpasses 1 mn subscribers

A year following the launch of AT&T's DirecTV Now, the over-the-top TV streaming service has surpassed 1 million subscribers, according to the telco. But the gains have not offset the steep pay-TV losses on the satellite and telco side.

The telco has been able to attract DirecTV Now customers with special promotional pricing and giveaways of devices like Apple TV and Roku players, but it remains to be seen whether customers stick with the service once the discounts are withdrawn, although AT&T has continued to introduce aggressive promotions for DirecTV Now.

AT&T has promised to launch new features for DirecTV Now in the next few months that are currently under beta testing. Those include a cloud-based DVR to record and watch shows ''virtually anywhere,'' according to AT&T, as also 4K Ultra HD video, capacity for over 35,000 on demand titles, individual profiles and ''an even better user experience.''

Rival Dish Network's Sling TV, one of the first internet pay-TV services to launch in the US had 1.7 million subscribers as of the third quarter, according to estimates by Wall Street firm Guggenheim Securities. Sony's PlayStation Vue had 455,000, YouTube TV, 325,000, Hulu's live TV service had 150,000 and FuboTV counted 100,000 subscribers as per Guggenheim.

DirecTV Now originally debuted only on iOS and Apple TV devices, and continues Apple TV promotion in offers where new subscribers can pay for four months of service upfront ($140) and get an all-new 32GB Apple TV 4K ($180) for free.

"This milestone is an incredible testament to the thousands of hours many people spent working to bring this product online and continually improving it during the past year," said David Christopher, president, AT&T, www.macrumors.com reported. Entertainment Group. "We're thrilled so many customers have come to love DIRECTV NOW and can't wait to bring them a host of new features in 2018."