DirecTV has now confirmed that the AT&T TV live TV streaming service will be rebranded as DirecTV Stream following the completion of a deal between AT&T and TPG that results in DirecTV becoming a standalone company. While the New DirecTV will be part-owned by AT&T, the video services involved in the transaction will also be operating under the DirecTV brand going forward.
AT&T TV has gone through multiple rebrands over the last few years with the most recent seeing the service dropping “Now” from its name after being absorbed by AT&T TV. Recently, Streaming Better was the first to report on the new logo, while also highlighting some other indications that had surfaced online suggesting the live TV service was about to be rebranded once again.
DirecTV has now officially confirmed the switch from AT&T TV to DirecTV Stream. In addition, the AT&T TV website has already been updated with a notification at the top of the page to advise new and existing customers of the name change. DirecTV Stream, along with DirecTV, will represent the two main options for accessing live TV under the new company. DirecTV will be focused on the same traditional packages while DirecTV Stream will offer streaming-based alternatives.
In reality, nothing much is expected to change from the user’s point of view. Yes, AT&T TV will now be known by a different name, but the plans and packages are expected to remain the same. In addition, subscribers will still have access to any grandfathered benefits they had before the switch.
While this is yet another example of the confusing history of AT&T TV, which first started out as DirecTV Now to now only be reverting back to the similarly named DirecTV Stream, the change does make a lot of sense. For starters, AT&T TV would have likely been unable to remain branded as an AT&T entity, due to the nature of the deal.
More importantly from the consumer perspective, with the new DirecTV company offering both traditional and streaming-based plans and packages, the use of the DirecTV Stream name will make it much easier to understand the difference and make it easier for consumers to chose which service is best suited to their individual needs.
Source: DirecTV
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