AT&T's DirecTV Now Added 200,000 Subscribers in First Month

By Austen Hufford 

AT&T Inc. said its new streaming-video service, DirecTV Now, added 200,000 paying subscribers in its first month of operation, giving investors a first glimpse into the health of the business.

The streaming television service was launched Nov. 30 with special promotional pricing and incentives. It offers four tiers of channels that are delivered to web browsers, mobile phones and streaming devices like Amazon's Fire TV stick or the Apple TV. The smallest package has more than 60 channels, while the biggest has more than 120.

AT&T had previously said that the service's initial response exceeded its expectations.

The service has established competition from streaming video services such as Netflix and Hulu, and from similar streaming television services like Dish Network Corp.'s Sling TV. Netflix has 93.8 million streaming customers. Last February The Wall Street Journal reported that Sling had more than 600,000 subscribers, citing people briefed on the numbers.

AT&T's service may have gained from media attention following the launch and from promotional pricing -- it is offering a bundle of more than 100 channels for $35 a month, usually priced $60, and throwing in a free Apple TV for those who pay three months in advance.

Separately, AT&T said it expects to record a fourth-quarter loss of about $1 billion related to the annual reassessment of pension and postemployment benefit plans.

The company also said it added a net 900,000 branded domestic wireless subscribers in the quarter and saw 700,000 legacy 2G deactivations.

Write to Austen Hufford at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 20, 2017 08:37 ET (13:37 GMT)

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