AT&T U.S. down 1,164k; Vrio up 25k video subs in 4Q 2019

Wednesday, January 29th, 2020
AT&T logo

DALLAS — AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) reported that for the full-year, the company met or exceeded its 2019 guidance and delivered record operating and free cash flow.

Entertainment Group

Subscriber Metrics:

  • Premium TV subscribers: (945,000) net loss due to competition and customers rolling off promotional discounts as well as to lower gross adds from the continued focus on adding higher value customers
  • AT&T TV NOW subscribers: (219,000) net loss due to higher prices and less promotional activity

Video (in thousands):

                                                                                     Three Months Ended
               ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               12/31/17   3/31/18   6/30/18   9/30/18  12/31/18   3/31/19   6/30/19   9/30/19  12/31/19
               --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------
Connections
  Satellite      20,458    20,270    19,984    19,625    19,222
  U-verse         3,631     3,632     3,656     3,669     3,681
               --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------
 Premium TV      24,089    23,902    23,640    23,294    22,903    22,359    21,581    20,418    19,473
 Over-the-Top*    1,155     1,467     1,809     1,858     1,591     1,508     1,340     1,145       926
               --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------
Total            25,244    25,369    25,449    25,152    24,494    23,867    22,921    21,563    20,399

Net Adds                  
  Satellite        -147      -188      -286      -359      -403
  U-verse           -60         1        24        13        12
               --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------
 Premium TV        -207      -187      -262      -346      -391      -544      -778    -1,163      -945
 Over-the-Top*      368       312       342        49      -267       -83      -168      -195      -219
               --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------
Total               161       125        80      -297      -658      -627      -946    -1,358    -1,164

* Over-the-top connections include AT&T TV NOW and exclude WatchTV, which launched near end of June 2018, during its promotional period. AT&T TV NOW connections as of 4Q19 include 8K free or substantially free trial-period subscribers. AT&T has successfully retained many subscribers after the expiration of their trial period.

Latin America – Vrio

Subscriber Metrics:

  • 25,000 net adds; total subscribers at the end of the quarter were 13.3 million

Video (in thousands):

                                                                                     Three Months Ended
               ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               12/31/17   3/31/18   6/30/18   9/30/18  12/31/18   3/31/19   6/30/19   9/30/19  12/31/19
               --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------  --------
Connections      13,629    13,573    13,713    13,640    13,838    13,584    13,473    13,306    13,331
Net Adds            139       -15       140       -73       198       -32      -111      -167        25