DirecTV lays off hundreds of managers as cord cutting accelerates

LTC Eugene Chu
..."DirecTV reportedly lost around 500,000 customers in its most recent quarter, according to ratings agency Fitch. Although DirecTV's losses slowed during the height of the pandemic, they recently accelerated to nearly 17%, according to MoffettNathanson.

In addition to satellite TV, the company also offers DirecTV Stream, an internet-TV bundle similar to Google's YouTube TV and Dish's Sling.

Competition has ramped up in rural areas as broadband and fixed wireless companies build out networks in areas where satellite TV providers were once some of the only TV providers.

Meanwhile, fees to carry broadcast and cable channels continue to rise. Executives across the industry have cited rising fees as partly responsible for accelerating pay-TV customer losses in recent years.

Plus, media companies have been offering more of the content traditionally found on linear TV, such as weekly shows, live events and sports, on streaming services, further pulling value from the pay-TV bundle.

DirecTV's contract recently ended for the rights to the NFL's "Sunday Ticket" package of out-of-market Sunday games. It held the rights since the inception of "Sunday Ticket" in 1994 and had been losing about $500 million annually on the package, CNBC previously reported.

The impending layoffs include only a small portion of employees connected with "Sunday Ticket," the people said."

Over the years we had DirecTV & Dish (we have neither now), I must say that we had more problems with DirecTV.