Today's Top News
1. AT&T pondering name change for DirecTV post-purchase
By Daniel Frankel
AT&T (NYSE: T) CEO Randall Stephenson says AT&T is currently reviewing a major branding change for DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV), as federal regulators finish off their own review of the telco's purchase of the pay-TV operator.
Stephenson made his comments during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, indicating the name change could entail a new moniker as simple as "AT&T."
"We haven't decided yet how we are going to brand it," the executive said. "We're testing the DirecTV brand and the AT&T brand, so we're doing a lot of thinking."
With 50 percent of AT&T's wireless traffic now constituted by video, Stephenson also accentuated his company's major goal for the $49 billion acquisition--DirecTV will provide AT&T with the ability to create a leading mobile content business.
"With six or seven million video subscribers--growing at 24%--we still can't make money because of the programming costs," he said. "Put it together with DirecTV and we have a profitable business to sell into. With DirecTV, we have an ability for someone to walk out of an AT&T store with an iPad and lots of programming. No one else can do that."
1. AT&T pondering name change for DirecTV post-purchase
By Daniel Frankel
AT&T (NYSE: T) CEO Randall Stephenson says AT&T is currently reviewing a major branding change for DirecTV (NASDAQ: DTV), as federal regulators finish off their own review of the telco's purchase of the pay-TV operator.
Stephenson made his comments during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, indicating the name change could entail a new moniker as simple as "AT&T."
"We haven't decided yet how we are going to brand it," the executive said. "We're testing the DirecTV brand and the AT&T brand, so we're doing a lot of thinking."
With 50 percent of AT&T's wireless traffic now constituted by video, Stephenson also accentuated his company's major goal for the $49 billion acquisition--DirecTV will provide AT&T with the ability to create a leading mobile content business.
"With six or seven million video subscribers--growing at 24%--we still can't make money because of the programming costs," he said. "Put it together with DirecTV and we have a profitable business to sell into. With DirecTV, we have an ability for someone to walk out of an AT&T store with an iPad and lots of programming. No one else can do that."
