Earlier this year, the AT&T-owned DirecTV announced that it would launch DirecTV Now, putting it in direct competition with Dish’s Sling TV. The service is finally set to launch next month, and while no one outside of the company has seen it in action, it’s coming out swinging, offering more than 100 channels for $35 per month.
While DirecTV Now has been kept relatively under wraps for the past several months, AT&T chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson revealed the details at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJDLive conference on Tuesday, according to Reuters. While $35 isn’t that far off from the service’s competition in terms of sheer price, the value could be much higher than its competitors’ offerings, considering the channel count.
Sling TV starts at $20 per month, but only offers a handful of channels for this price, and while adding all of its offered channels together ups the count considerably, the price would be much higher than AT&T’s offering. PlayStation Vue is more in line in terms of programming, but its Elite Slim package, which offers more than 100 channels, is priced at $45 or $55 per month, depending on where the viewer is located.
Part of the reason behind this low price could be AT&T’s recently announced purchase of Time Warner for $85.4 billion. DirecTV Now was already slated to feature content from Time Warner-owned companies like HBO, CNN, and Warner Bros, but with the deal in place, the cost structure becomes radically different, allowing the service to be priced lower.
What channels will be available in this $35 per month plan have yet to be announced, but in addition to Time Warner-owner companies, DirecTV now will also feature channels and content from Disney, Viacom, and Scripps Networks Interactive. The $35 per month plan will even cover mobile streaming. “Thirty-five dollars, you don’t find that for a hundred channels in the marketplace, with wireless streaming,” Stephenson said.
AT&T has yet to announce a launch date for DirecTV Now, but with the service launching in November, it won’t be long until we know a whole lot more.
