Sunday Ticket update

[Real McClappy]

On 8/14/2019 at 9:29 AM, Bangarang said:

You must be one of the lucky few. From everyone I’ve spoken with, AT&T has essentially removed any chance of haggling or getting deals. DTV employees used to take care of their customers until crappy AT&T came into the picture.

Spot on! I called and cancelled after being a 10yr loyal customer and at least expected some discount offers to stay which I might have considered.

 

Nada, nilch, nothing and was pretty surprised. 

 

Very happy with my free 56 channels from my $45 high def amplified antenna.

Edited September 9, 2019 by Real McCoy

[Xwnyer]

18 hours ago, IDBillzFan said:

While I annually go for a deal, the exception is when the deal I got the previous year was outstanding. Last year I got a killer deal, paying nothing for Ticket and all the trimmings, and getting other rebates I never expected.

 

So this year I choose to just let it pass...until Thursday Night Football, when I find out the regionalFox affiliate is in dispute and I can't get TNF or SNF. 

 

We'll see what happens when I call today, but I've been with them for 25 years and I plan on straying from my usual nice-guy script and going batschittQtip on them.

 

 

Let me know how it goes.  I tried my nice guy routine just asking for some help and was told since I didn’t auto renew they can’t even give me the 12$ off they do to auto renew.  I have direct line to retention folks but they are att employees now they don’t care.   I received some attitude from last agent I dealt with.   I have the I’d  number of one that did great for me in last will call Wednesday asking to talk to her

[Solomon Grundy]

I rode out the CBS dispute because I had OTA antenna. Let them play with ESPN and I'm DONE!!

[Ed_Formerly_of_Roch]

On 9/7/2019 at 3:03 PM, ndirish1978 said:

Isn't the DirectTv deal going away sometime soon? Time for the NFL to realize people are cutting the cord. Forcing people to pay for a service they don't want is only going to promote piracy and they aren't going to be seeing a penny from that.

 

As long as DTV keeps rolling up the Brinks truck it will stay there.  DTV knows without ST, they will be in deep trouble so to date they've paid out-landish fees to keep it.  Will  that continue,  not so sure as ATT seems to be more cost conscious and will be unwilling to pay for something that's not doing well due to cord cutters.  And if it does stop, then likely the NFL will look elsewhere.  But as long as DTV is offering them more money than anyone else, they will keep ST.  Plus it would cost the NFL a huge amount of money to start their own streaming service, best option for the league is to let someone like Yahoo pick it up, but they will then need to outbid DTV to win it.  Or simplier might be for DTV to start streaming ST without a DTV subscription.  Maybe it's $500 a year, but that's still cheaper than $100 a month for DTV.

 

I will agree with you in that it promotes piracy.  But that's not the NFL's problem, that's Direct TV issue.  DTV isn't telling the NFL "we diecided not to pay you the full amount this year due to piracy"  So the league still gets all their money.

[Xwnyer]

Wow did I get a deal I was not expecting.  a few weeks back I called about the issues with CBS and other locals not being available and eventually received a 80$ credit.   Back in June I had an issue with dish relocation and loyalty person told me to not auto renew ST since better deals come at start of season.  So I called Monday this week to see what I could get for ST and deals and the agent I dealt with was plain old rude never had this happen with loyalty people before.  SO I decided hell I will forgo and just stream hoping I can sync sirius xm stream with other stream.   Well tuesday I get my bill and the 80$ credit isn't there and the rude agent dropped my movies extra pack ( All we watch is smithsonian)   SO I call back yesterday to loyalty folks and they start handling request and than I am put into VIP queue and call gets dropped.    I call back again and Loyalty person was sorry about me getting dropped and said he would transfer me to VIP but had to put account in pending cancel.   I get VIP person she ends up giving me ST Max free, a 200$ gift card, 37$ a month off bill, my 80$ credit, fix my movies max and gave that free for  year.   When I was done I told her she went way and above what I was expecting I just wanted my credit I was promised along with a discount on ST.  She also gave me an additional 20$ discount so that O wouldn't have to pay the bill.   My monthly  programming cost for xtra pack for the next 12 months will be 54$ plus tax!!!!!!    I am one happy customer

[Buftex]

On ‎8‎/‎14‎/‎2019 at 5:21 AM, Royale with Cheese said:

I am not eligible for Sunday Ticket without a subscription.

 

I will pay half the price of the of the Ticket if they allow me to use their login credentials!  I’m serious!  Or if you get it for free, I’ll give you $200.  

I have never had the Sunday Ticket, but if it is anything like the NHL Game Center, you wouldn't be able to access it if somebody else is logged in to it.  I subscribe to the Sabres package, and shared my password with a friend (I justify it by the fact that the Sabres are so hard to watch most of the time, I am probably only watching about 20-25 games a year), and we never had an issue, until that winning streak last year...if one of us was watching, the other could not access.

[Steptide]

30 minutes ago, Xwnyer said:

Wow did I get a deal I was not expecting.  a few weeks back I called about the issues with CBS and other locals not being available and eventually received a 80$ credit.   Back in June I had an issue with dish relocation and loyalty person told me to not auto renew ST since better deals come at start of season.  So I called Monday this week to see what I could get for ST and deals and the agent I dealt with was plain old rude never had this happen with loyalty people before.  SO I decided hell I will forgo and just stream hoping I can sync sirius xm stream with other stream.   Well tuesday I get my bill and the 80$ credit isn't there and the rude agent dropped my movies extra pack ( All we watch is smithsonian)   SO I call back yesterday to loyalty folks and they start handling request and than I am put into VIP queue and call gets dropped.    I call back again and Loyalty person was sorry about me getting dropped and said he would transfer me to VIP but had to put account in pending cancel.   I get VIP person she ends up giving me ST Max free, a 200$ gift card, 37$ a month off bill, my 80$ credit, fix my movies max and gave that free for  year.   When I was done I told her she went way and above what I was expecting I just wanted my credit I was promised along with a discount on ST.  She also gave me an additional 20$ discount so that O wouldn't have to pay the bill.   My monthly  programming cost for xtra pack for the next 12 months will be 54$ plus tax!!!!!!    I am one happy customer

That's a sweet deal. My guess is that you spent a long time on the phone as it takes their customer service forever to do anything. I called a few weeks ago (about something else unrelated to Sunday ticket) and the person I spoke with said she was gonna place me on a "breif" hold so she could look into what I was calling about, and I sat on hold 40 minutes, no joke. After 40 mins, I finally hung up and called back, only to not get an answer to my questions. I seriously hate directv 

[Xwnyer]

15 hours ago, Steptide said:

That's a sweet deal. My guess is that you spent a long time on the phone as it takes their customer service forever to do anything. I called a few weeks ago (about something else unrelated to Sunday ticket) and the person I spoke with said she was gonna place me on a "breif" hold so she could look into what I was calling about, and I sat on hold 40 minutes, no joke. After 40 mins, I finally hung up and called back, only to not get an answer to my questions. I seriously hate directv 

Not really on last call however in the last moth yes spent a lot of time but I get right to,loyalty dept never get hung up dealing with folks who struggle with basic concepts.  But even loyalty dept has gone down hill it’s clear now they work in these open landscape areas the background noise at times makes it hard to hear what the agent is saying or them understanding you.  Once I got to the VIP folks it’s a recorded line and must be a closed door office.   Whoever thought open landscape is great for a call center should have their freaking heads examined.  

[CaptnCoke11]

Reality is now since AT&T took them over they don’t care if you stay or go.  Calling in use to work all the time and they gave nice discounts and incentives to stay.  Now it’s 50/50 at best they will even work with you and when they do a lot of time is $12 off a month 

Edited September 13, 2019 by CaptnCoke11

[zow2]

It's interesting.  I worked so hard to contact AT&T over and over again about my NFL package.  Finally got someone to appreciate my 20-year loyalty, and they gave me Sunday Ticket free. Yay!   But, since last years $50 monthly credits expired, my bill went up $50 per month. Boooo!   So far they've told me there are no more credit/discounts available.  I'll keep calling back every once in a while, I'm sure they have my name flagged by now.  

Edited September 13, 2019 by zow2

[Xwnyer]

2 hours ago, zow2 said:

It's interesting.  I worked so hard to contact AT&T over and over again about my NFL package.  Finally got someone to appreciate my 20-year loyalty, and they gave me Sunday Ticket free. Yay!   But, since last years $50 monthly credits expired, my bill went up $50 per month. Boooo!   So far they've told me there are no more credit/discounts available.  I'll keep calling back every once in a while, I'm sure they have my name flagged by now.  

Call and tell them cancel service get transferred to VIP group,u will do good

[BuffaloButt]

On 9/6/2019 at 1:47 PM, BuffaloButt said:

I just made the dreaded call to DTV (loyalty dept) and after 1:15 mins they only offered me $20 mo discount plus $12.25 mo off ST.  Also a one time $30 credit.  I had a $60 credit last year which they said they can't offer right now but to try back in 30 days.  I said no and I want to cancel, she said she was going to transfer me to the VIP loyalty team.  Really annoyed with the new ATT takeover as they SUCK on retention.  I'm going to cancel and restart under a new name to get everything offered to new customers. That is what they stated is necessary.  I will be getting ST for free and a $50 mo discount plus a gift card of some amount.  Not sure it's worth the hassle!! 

Final Update:

So it was a lot of work (90 mins & 60 mins), too much work  actually but I cancelled my service for 1 day and they offered a return package (which is offered for new customers).  Details below...(For 1st year)  rates will go up in 2nd year of 2 year agreement.

 

New Bill:

	CHOICE (all included)	$124.00
	HBO STARZ SHOWTIME & CINEMAX	$53.99
	Regional Sports Fee	$8.49
	$200 AT&T VISA® Reward Card	$0.00
	NFL SUNDAY TICKET MAX 2019	$0.00
	$5 off for 12 mo w/ABP + eBill	-$5.00
	Adjustment	-$40.01
	3 Month HBO/STZ/SHO/MAX Credit	-$53.99

 ESTIMATED FIRST BILL    *$87.48   

 

The only reason I went through the hassle was my equipment was not working right and they wanted to charge me to fix their equipment so I really had to cancel.  Good luck to all in your efforts, hope this helps!

[JohnC]

On 9/7/2019 at 8:50 AM, Steptide said:

Instead of fighting and making numerous calls this year, I only called once and got $12.50 off per month for the Sunday ticket. I couldnt deal with the hassle this year. Directv is beyond awful since AT&T took over. I want to cancel so bad, but the convenience of Sunday ticket is the only thing that keeps me. I know I can get ST through other sources, but having it right through my cable box is the best. 

I feel exactly the same way as you do going through this charade every year. The only reason why I have the dish is because of the Ticket. If they lose that market I will pursue other options. There is an unpredictable aspect to how you get billed compared to how others get billed. Having to extract discounts from this company every year is getting tiresome. Some people enjoy this engagement for this annual tug of war in pricing. I'm not one of them.

[nucci]

10 hours ago, JohnC said:

I feel exactly the same way as you do going through this charade every year. The only reason why I have the dish is because of the Ticket. If they lose that market I will pursue other options. There is an unpredictable aspect to how you get billed compared to how others get billed. Having to extract discounts from this company every year is getting tiresome. Some people enjoy this engagement for this annual tug of war in pricing. I'm not one of them.

I don't enjoy it but to me it's worth it for the discounts. Hate paying them full price.

[ALF]

AT&T pushed to unload DirecTV as troubles mount, Dish may be best option

 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/dish-seen-as-best-option-for-att-to-unload-directv

[Whatnot78]

1 hour ago, ALF said:

AT&T pushed to unload DirecTV as troubles mount, Dish may be best option

 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/dish-seen-as-best-option-for-att-to-unload-directv

 

I'm for anything to get them apart from AT&T...their services sucks big time since they were acquired.

[PetermansRedemption]

29 minutes ago, Whatnot78 said:

 

I'm for anything to get them apart from AT&T...their services sucks big time since they were acquired.

Agreed. I’ve heard bad things about Dish too, but it can’t be as bad as Directv has become under ATT

[May Day 10]

On 9/13/2019 at 8:29 PM, JohnC said:

I feel exactly the same way as you do going through this charade every year. The only reason why I have the dish is because of the Ticket. If they lose that market I will pursue other options. There is an unpredictable aspect to how you get billed compared to how others get billed. Having to extract discounts from this company every year is getting tiresome. Some people enjoy this engagement for this annual tug of war in pricing. I'm not one of them.

 

I was fine with it when it was just the thing to do, and had an inaudible wink between me and the customer service rep, it was easy, and I felt like a valued customer putting one over on Time Warner/Spectrum/Comcast, etc.  They were almost always able to give me everything I wanted/needed, and kept the price within reach of the Cable Company's triple-play introductory price... and it would take a couple minutes.

 

I dont want to call every year and go to the mat trying to get deals, and seeing others with better deals, and needing a spreadsheet to track what I am getting in comparison with other options.  It shouldnt be like buying a car.  

 

Its a media technology on its death throes anyway.  

[GG]

Good news for DTV fans, AT&T apparently put up a for sale sign for the satellite unit.    

[notwoz]

18 minutes ago, GG said:

Good news for DTV fans, AT&T apparently put up a for sale sign for the satellite unit.    

A hedge fund called Elliott Management Corp. has a small stake in AT&T and wants AT&T to dump several  businesses it bought during a five-year acquisition spree. The activist investor specifically criticized AT&T’s purchase  of DirecTV, which has been losing subscribers. It also questioned whether the recent $80 billion-plus acquisition of Time Warner made strategic sense.

 

Oddly enough, that demand has led to speculation of a possible merger between DirecTV and Dish.

[BobbyC81]

24 minutes ago, notwoz said:

A hedge fund called Elliott Management Corp. has a small stake in AT&T and wants AT&T to dump several  businesses it bought during a five-year acquisition spree. The activist investor specifically criticized AT&T’s purchase  of DirecTV, which has been losing subscribers. It also questioned whether the recent $80 billion-plus acquisition of Time Warner made strategic sense.

 

Oddly enough, that demand has led to speculation of a possible merger between DirecTV and Dish.

 

They tried the DirecTV/Dish merger once before and IIRC it was blocked.  Maybe now that they have less of a stranglehold on home TV service providers, it would go through.

[notwoz]

8 minutes ago, ColeB said:

 

They tried the DirecTV/Dish merger once before and IIRC it was blocked.  Maybe now that they have less of a stranglehold on home TV service providers, it would go through.

Plus, the current situation in Washington seems to be not very concerned about little details like monopolies. As seen by an Appeals Court decision to allow the AT&T merger with Time Warner. The Justice Department just rolled over and said, "OK."

 

[BobbyC81]

On 9/13/2019 at 5:29 PM, JohnC said:

I feel exactly the same way as you do going through this charade every year. The only reason why I have the dish is because of the Ticket. If they lose that market I will pursue other options. There is an unpredictable aspect to how you get billed compared to how others get billed. Having to extract discounts from this company every year is getting tiresome. Some people enjoy this engagement for this annual tug of war in pricing. I'm not one of them.

 

Yeah, in past years, I had got them to take off some of the monthly amount.  I started this year in July and I kept getting the response of “no discounts available “.  

[GG]

2 hours ago, notwoz said:

A hedge fund called Elliott Management Corp. has a small stake in AT&T and wants AT&T to dump several  businesses it bought during a five-year acquisition spree. The activist investor specifically criticized AT&T’s purchase  of DirecTV, which has been losing subscribers. It also questioned whether the recent $80 billion-plus acquisition of Time Warner made strategic sense.

 

Oddly enough, that demand has led to speculation of a possible merger between DirecTV and Dish.

 

This is discussed above and Elliott's letter coming on the heels of the announced CEO succession plan prompted this move.  The merger with DISH was discussed a long time ago, but shot down in a different operating environment.  I'm guessing it will be an easier road now that both satellite co's are struggling to hold on to subscribers.

[JohnC]

21 minutes ago, ColeB said:

 

Yeah, in past years, I had got them to take off some of the monthly amount.  I started this year in July and I kept getting the response of “no discounts available “.  

Keep trying. Start off by trying to get a discount on your NFL Ticket and then request other discount options. Let them know that you are aware of a lot of people getting additional discount. I usually request to go directly to the retention rep instead of trying to bargain with the general rep.  

[Gavin in Va Beach]

1 minute ago, JohnC said:

Keep trying. Start off by trying to get a discount on your NFL Ticket and then request other discount options. Let them know that you are aware of a lot of people getting additional discount. I usually request to go directly to the retention rep instead of trying to bargain with the general rep.  

 

Had DirecTV before I cut the cord and got the Sunday ticket free for 8 yrs straight. The first 6 years I only had to threaten to cancel the service. The 7th year the retention rep told me no discounts were available and my best bet was to actually schedule the cancellation because then the system populated with a new batch of discounts to try and keep you. 

[JohnC]

1 minute ago, Gavin in Va Beach said:

 

Had DirecTV before I cut the cord and got the Sunday ticket free for 8 yrs straight. The first 6 years I only had to threaten to cancel the service. The 7th year the retention rep told me no discounts were available and my best bet was to actually schedule the cancellation because then the system populated with a new batch of discounts to try and keep you. 

What I have learned is that if you are rebuffed when you make the call then try again. Some reps are willing to work with you and others are hardliners. The call centers are not working from the same script. It's irritating but it is worth it. But as I said in prior posts I am getting tired of this annual charade. 

[Bills Oil Company]

14 hours ago, Whatnot78 said:

 

I'm for anything to get them apart from AT&T...their services sucks big time since they were acquired.

 Here's another article on same topic from WSJ

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-t-explores-parting-ways-with-directv-11568841544

[Bills Oil Company]

Called this evening.   Talked to retention - American guy not overseas.   Already had $50 off monthly discount (for 1 yr) from back in the spring applied and $20 off monthly discount for 1 year for HBO.   So already sitting at $70 off a month.   Wasn't expecting much - just hoping to get 25% off like last year.   

 

Guy I talked to gave it to me for free.   Awesome.  Never have gotten it for free except the year I initially signed up.   I think I just got lucky and caught the guy on a good night.  I also heard it helps to call them after week 1 of the regular season. 

 

[Nervous Guy]

Is this CBS All Access the competition for Sunday Ticket?  $5.99 a month?  You'll miss the FOX games tho.

 

https://www.cbs.com/shows/nfl-on-cbs/news/1009396/2019-nfl-on-cbs-schedule-watch-live-streaming-football-games/?ftag=AAM-07-10ahc3f&fbclid=IwAR39_HZlZqKBfyjhta_3fXX3r8CI2G81Xb_JDDRpgn85fEBz4vSSdtXl3_U

[plenzmd1]

9 minutes ago, Nervous Guy said:

Is this CBS All Access the competition for Sunday Ticket?  $5.99 a month?  You'll miss the FOX games tho.

 

https://www.cbs.com/shows/nfl-on-cbs/news/1009396/2019-nfl-on-cbs-schedule-watch-live-streaming-football-games/?ftag=AAM-07-10ahc3f&fbclid=IwAR39_HZlZqKBfyjhta_3fXX3r8CI2G81Xb_JDDRpgn85fEBz4vSSdtXl3_U

Not so fast my friend! One must always read the details!

(soory bout the font and color)

Quote

It's easy! You can watch national games and your local market games live on CBS All Access, 

think if you want Bills games will have to have someone from WNY sign up, and my guess is would want to have a VPN connect to a server in Buffalo when watching.  Otherwise, if i sign up for that with my Richmond address, i will only be able to watch the CBS game thay are showing in Richmond.

[Nervous Guy]

3 hours ago, plenzmd1 said:

Not so fast my friend! One must always read the details!

(soory bout the font and color)

think if you want Bills games will have to have someone from WNY sign up, and my guess is would want to have a VPN connect to a server in Buffalo when watching.  Otherwise, if i sign up for that with my Richmond address, i will only be able to watch the CBS game thay are showing in Richmond.

  Yeah...I glossed over the details.  Well maybe this could be the way that they would do it in the future...in some ideal scenario.

[GG]

AT&T rethinks DTV exclusivity

 

Quote

 

The National Football League’s Sunday Ticket package, which allows football fans to view almost any game, has long been a cornerstone of satellite broadcaster DirecTV, which holds exclusive rights to the offering.

 

But DirecTV-parent AT&T Inc. T -0.11% isn’t sure it wants to renew the deal.

 

The company’s chief operating officer, John Stankey, said he believes Sunday Ticket’s value to the company has peaked and that a renewal—especially if it comes with a higher price tag—will be hard to justify at a time when consumers are canceling pay-TV connections, including at DirecTV.

 

 

Usually when a high level exec makes these kind of statements well ahead of contract expiration, means that AT&T is willing to walk away.  They likely noticed that Sunday Ticket was a big money loser for DTV.

 

Could this be the first time there won't be a large increase in NFL broadcast rights?

[John from Riverside]

I feel like I got totally screwed with Sunday Ticket this year

 

I signed up for Choice....then later on I was looking at my monthly budget and downgraded my package.

 

They didnt bother to tell me this would take away my NFL Sunday ticket....not a mention of it at all....then time for The season and they want to charge me full price for it.....I fought thorugh all the reps....including customer retention....nope....wouldnt discount it....I even offered to take my programming back up to choice to get the ticket for free...nope...woudlt give me the offer.

 

I want it this year so I am paying full price for it....but not happy about it.

[Ned Flanders]

1 hour ago, GG said:

AT&T rethinks DTV exclusivity

Usually when a high level exec makes these kind of statements well ahead of contract expiration, means that AT&T is willing to walk away.  They likely noticed that Sunday Ticket was a big money loser for DTV.

Could this be the first time there won't be a large increase in NFL broadcast rights?

I recall reading recently that of DTV's 20 million subscribers, only two million subscribe to ST.  Thought that was a very low-ball number.

[GG]

3 minutes ago, Ned Flanders said:

I recall reading recently that of DTV's 20 million subscribers, only two million subscribe to ST.  Thought that was a very low-ball number.

 

They never released the exact number of subs, so the 2 million figure has been thrown around for a decade or so.  Even with 2 million subs, the math never worked out to justify the fees they paid to the NFL.   One would have thought that AT&T finance wizards would have done the math.  It's obvious they didn't.

[Clemfield2622]

I got my most recent DTV bill and my promo ran out.

 

I called and threatened to cancel unless they restored my promo pricing.

 

They refused, so I quit.

 

Not even 12 hours later they called me and offered $200 Visa gift card, my old rate back, and Sunday ticket for the balance of the season.

 

I'm gonna see how much more I can squeeze.

[Ned Flanders]

1 hour ago, Clemfield2622 said:

I got my most recent DTV bill and my promo ran out.

 

I called and threatened to cancel unless they restored my promo pricing.

 

They refused, so I quit.

 

Not even 12 hours later they called me and offered $200 Visa gift card, my old rate back, and Sunday ticket for the balance of the season.

 

I'm gonna see how much more I can squeeze.

Same exact scenario happened with me last month.

[ColoradoBills]

7 hours ago, Clemfield2622 said:

I got my most recent DTV bill and my promo ran out.

 

I called and threatened to cancel unless they restored my promo pricing.

 

They refused, so I quit.

 

Not even 12 hours later they called me and offered $200 Visa gift card, my old rate back, and Sunday ticket for the balance of the season.

 

I'm gonna see how much more I can squeeze.

 

They told me the same a few months ago.  The contract said that next year I had to pay the full price for everything.

I'm streaming now.

[Bills Oil Company]

22 hours ago, GG said:

AT&T rethinks DTV exclusivity

 

 

Usually when a high level exec makes these kind of statements well ahead of contract expiration, means that AT&T is willing to walk away.  They likely noticed that Sunday Ticket was a big money loser for DTV.

 

Could this be the first time there won't be a large increase in NFL broadcast rights?

This is also a negotiation tactic.   He's getting out in front of it now.   They made a short sided bad deal buying Directv.   Large corporations are notorious for this - I work for one.  Their base of viewers is declining but still significant.  If they lose exclusivity on the NFL, they lose at least 33% of their base.  Maybe more.  They know this. However, his margins continue to be squeezed from both ends as well.  Content providers have more outlets for distribution now, so more bidders to drive the price up.   On the opposite end, consumers like us demand discounts or we switch platforms (eroding margins because of more competition).   This is the beauty of capitalism.  His goal is keep base viewers and margins stable until they can dump Directv.  They're going to be hard pressed to keep both on the up and up long term. 

Edited September 28, 2019 by Bills Oil Company