This week has been a busy week of earnings announcements, but did they subtly hint at a price increase?
In the first week of earnings reporting, Comcast, Netflix, and all three major carriers reported fourth-quarter results, and the numbers are interesting. 5G home internet services are continually increasing, which may imply higher prices in the future.
But is anyone else surprised after last year?
It wasn’t all bad. YouTube TV and Sling TV Freestream each announced some welcome new features.
As always, there was a lot going on in the world of cord cutting. But that’s why The Recap exists to help you catch the biggest stories and find out why you should be paying attention to them.
Here’s what you need to know this week.
5G home internet remains popular
People love our 5G home internet service, and it shows in our fourth quarter results. T-Mobile is once again in the lead, adding 541,000 new subscribers, bringing the total number of customers to 4.8 million, making him one of the largest internet service providers in the country in just two years. Ta.
Verizon didn’t miss out, adding 231,000 customers, and AT&T gained 67,000 customers. That’s not bad considering it only officially launched two quarters ago.
Cord-cutting 2.0 is having an impact, as on the same day that T-Mobile reported its earnings, Comcast reported losing 34,000 broadband customers.
Price hikes being teased
Success usually comes at a price, and you may have to pay the price in the end. T-Mobile’s incredible growth in 5G home internet had investors wondering if it would raise prices to capitalize on demand. For the second time in two months, T-Mobile CEO Mike Siebert is leaving the door open to “optimization,” a financial term that makes bills more expensive. I made it. To be fair, he said he would see how consumers react, adding that he had no intention of abandoning his valuable position.
Netflix celebrated its impressive fourth-quarter results with a subtle caveat in its quarterly letter to shareholders: “From time to time, we may ask our members to pay a small additional fee.” , this may not bode well for subscribers. Just one day later, Netflix increased prices in Singapore. Will the US be next?
DIRECTV’s power outage teased again
The story is the same, only part of the company name has changed. DIRECTV and Cox Media are at war with each other as they face a redistribution agreement that expires on February 2nd.
Cox promotes the need to get fair value for local journalism and its content. DIRECTV argued that the request was too much and made the same a la carte offer it made to Tegra (which Tegra rejected). If no deal is reached, several local ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX affiliates will experience another power outage – DIRECTV’s second time this year (it’s only January).
Given the history of these past deals, I’m not very optimistic that a deal will close in time.
Sling Freestream’s new DVR
On a more positive note, Sling TV’s Freestream service has launched a new digital video recorder service with 10 hours of storage. This is the first free streaming service that includes a free His DVR.
Check out more of these from other services.
YouTube TV addresses broadcast delays
Finally, YouTube TV on Thursday introduced a new feature that can permanently reduce the broadcast delay of your streams.
Previously you could do this for 48 hours, but now you have the option to turn on this mode as the default.
Note that reducing the delay will result in less buffering, which may interrupt playback. But especially when you want a completely real-time feed, like the Super Bowl, it’s the way to go.
