DirecTV , DirecTV launches DVR features to all customers,DirecTV Now's revamped apps open up access to cloud DVR

AT&T

AT&T is acting on its promise to roll out next-gen DirecTV Now service in the spring. The telecom giant is launching a revamped experience that not only includes new apps, but an updated beta of its cloud DVR service that's available to everyone. All subscribers get 20 hours of recordings that last for up to 30 days. If you need more, an extra $10 per month gives you 100 hours of video that lasts for up to 90 days.

As for the apps themselves? The new versions promise a new layout that puts your most-watched channels and shows "front and center." You can keep watching your current stream while you browse for something new, too. The new software is only available on Apple TV, iOS and the web right now, but Android, Fire TV and Roku users should see it in the weeks ahead.
The update gives you more options for live viewing as well. Pay $5 extra per month and you can add a third simultaneous stream for families (or, let's be honest, friends who want to borrow access). And the service now handles local TV much, much more gracefully. Previously, you'd only have access to local channels while in your home area -- the update gives you the equivalent local affiliate (if DirecTV Now offers it) instead. That's not ideal if you're trying to catch up on news from back home, but it beats losing all access to a channel when you're on the road.
DirecTV Now has so far been a success for AT&T, which counted nearly 1.5 million subscribers as of the first quarter of 2018. Its gains frequently offset some of the losses from customers ditching expensive conventional TV packages. All the same, AT&T is keenly aware that the service needs to stay fresh if it's going to thrive -- it's facing cutthroat competition from Sling TV, YouTube TV, Hulu's live TV and other services that frequently have cloud DVR features and otherwise get aggressive upgrades. If DirecTV Now slips, it might not get a second chance.

DirecTV Now has announced a whole host of new features rolling out to devices today, bringing DVR support, a new interface, more concurrent streams, and better local channel options to customers and helping bring the over-the-top service more in line with offerings from competitors like Hulu and YouTube TV.

First up is the DVR features, which DirecTV Now has been testing in a limited beta, which are now getting rolled out to all customers to try (although DirecTV is still keeping the beta label for now.) The free version of the feature offers up to 20 hours of free recordings that can be stored up to 30 days. The company will be offering additional paid options for more storage space and time, starting with a $10 per month option that lets users record up to 100 hours and store it for up to 90 days later this summer.

Lastly, DirecTV Now is also getting an overhauled interface, starting with iOS, Apple TV, and browsers today, and rolling out to Android, Fire TV, and Roku versions of the app over the coming weeks. DirecTV says that the new app puts a better emphasis on users’ most watched content, and adds a picture-in-picture video preview of whatever you’re watching throughout the app.

Additionally, DirecTV Now is offering the option to add a third concurrent stream to their subscription for $5 more per month (up from the existing two concurrent streams that’s currently offered.)

DirectTV is improving how it handles local networks when you’re away from your base city (something that competitors like YouTube TV have already offered.) So instead of losing the ability to watch say, Fox, when you’re out on the road, you’ll be able to get the local affiliate of Fox where you’re traveling — assuming that city supports DirecTV Now, of course.

DirecTV Now is gaining some features likely essential to subscribers to the streaming video service: a cloud DVR and a third video stream.

AT&T's streaming service (starts at $35 monthly; you can get a free 7-day trial at directvnow.com) had been testing a free cloud-based virtual digital video recorder that saves 20 hours of programming with some subscribers.

Now, as part of an overall makeover for the service, all of its subscribers will begin getting the feature, the service says on its website. Initially it's only available on Apple devices (using iOS 10 and higher) including Apple TV, and Chromecast devices and TVs, as well as Google Chrome and Safari browsers.

The update is coming soon to additional Android OS and Chromecast devices, Amazon Fire TV, and Roku devices.

Also now available: a third simultaneous video stream (so three people can view different programming on one account) for $5 additionally each month.

Later this summer, subscribers who find they need a larger cloud DVR will be able to pay an additional $10 monthly to expand the recording capacity to 100 hours.

It make sense that AT&T is adding some features subscribers might want to pay for as AT&T "company executives have said they hope to make DirecTV Now profitable in part by offering add-on features for fees in addition to the programming packages," said Phil Swann, president of TVPredictions.com.

DirecTV Now is priced below some of its competitors, such as Sony's PlayStation Vue, which offers five simultaneous streams. But those are included in the subscription price. Early in DirecTV Now's lifespan, AT&T has kept the entry price relatively low for consumers to drive adoption, but takes a hit to its bottom line. "It remains to be seen if cord-cutters will go along with AT&T’s strategy," Swann said.

 

Another plan from AT&T: a version of the DirecTV satellite service that's delivered via broadband, but different from DirecTV Now, AT&T Communications CEO John Donovan said Tuesday at the MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit in San Francisco.

That would add to AT&T's offerings, which also include AT&T's U-Verse fiber-delivered pay-TV service and the recently-announced AT&T Watch $15-monthly "skinny bundle," announced last month. "So today, we sit with 2 products, and what I just described there will give us a 5-product portfolio with various price points and various addressable markets," Donovan said.

Also part of DirecTV Now's new features: the ability to watch your local networks while you are traveling and an expanded library of on-demand programs.