It seems DIRECTV NOW is about to be renamed “AT&T TV NOW.”
This is a confirmed change that’s now visible on the DIRECTV NOW website and the service has also now started sending out emails to existing users advising them of the rebranding.
AT&T has not stated when exactly the change will take effect but says the branding change will start to become visible in the “coming weeks.”
Besides the name change it does not appear to result in any other changes. AT&T says there will be no interruptions for customers and the service will “continue to deliver the same great streaming entertainment.”
As a result of the lack of changes, existing users are not expected to have to do anything other than update the app on their device when the time comes.
It has been clear that a name-change was on the horizon with AT&T although it remained to be seen if that change would also affect the NOW version of the service.
AT&T has spent the past few months referring to a new DIRECTV streaming service that’s coming but all of a sudden recently begun referring to the service as “AT&T TV.” Therefore it was unclear whether that service would arrive as AT&T TV while the existing DIRECTV NOW remained under the DIRECTV NOW.
Evidently, that is now not the case as both versions of the streaming service will adopt the AT&T TV branding.
The timing is unlikely to be a coincidence either. DIRECTV NOW has hit the headlines frequently over the past months due to the number of subscribers that have left the service recently and also the way in which company executives have referred to the customers. For many of those consumers, these changes and headlines have left a bad taste in the mouth and resulted in the service becoming associated with price increases and channel reductions/blackouts. It remains to be seen if changing the name will necessarily change public perception immediately, though it might give off the impression of a fresh and new service to otherwise unaware consumers.
DIRECTV NOW has undergone so many changes to its plans of late that for many it does now feel like a completely different product and with the name change that’s now taking effect, that is truer than ever. AT&T TV NOW is not the same product DIRECTV NOW once was.
For example, DIRECTV NOW arrived to market with a low price and focused on bringing the best of content together under one streaming service. However, in recent months AT&T has upped the prices and also removed a number of channels.
The removed channels were typically third-party channels and this allowed AT&T to place more of a focus on its own channel and content. This was further evidenced by the bundling of HBO with the DIRECTV NOW plans – AT&T also owns HBO.
With this in mind the move from DIRECTV NOW to AT&T TV NOW seems to complete that transition and further adds to the suggestion that the service is going more and more down an AT&T-only route.