It’s a good day to be an AT&T stockholder. Although the market is holding back its enthusiasm for the Time Warner purchase, the financials released quietly over the weekend tell a story of a strong company getting even stronger. Revenues are up, profits are up, and the company has approved an increase in the quarterly dividend.
It’s not all wine and roses, though. While DIRECTV picked up a healthy 323,000 subscribers (once again, the only provider to gain year-over-year) a loss of 326,000 subscribers from U-Verse means a net negative in total pay-TV. This is why “DIRECTV Now,” the company’s streaming-only pay TV service, can’t come soon enough. There’s still time for the company to turn subscriber growth positive by introducing a new, exciting alternative to traditional pay-TV service. This could definitely push AT&T into positive territory for the year.
