 Hey guys Ken Ross here, and I'm a business consultant that specializes in reducing costs for businesses By looking at their essential expenses and today boy, I have something really great for you today I was just getting off the phone here with AT&T and direct TV, and I got quite a deal now Before I really get into this. I want to tell you that this is quite a story I recently moved to AT&T Fiber internet around two years ago, and I've been watching kind of this market for Internet as well as cable providers and Telecommunications right because this is one of the things I specialize in I look at telecommunications providers I like to pick on Verizon for instance all the time because they're my current customer I have Verizon business and they've made a lot of changes. Well, I tell you what the changes that AT&T made and The move to direct TV that they made with their television streaming television service Really has a great benefit for those who have been in it, and I'm going to get into that in a little bit here But I just want to make sure that you're paying attention, right? the market is changing things are ever changing in Telecommunications not only with wireless communications, but as well as wired like your ISPs and your voice over IP providers those that provide internet because streaming services are the new thing, right? Everyone says cable is dead. You never have a cable box in your house You have a Roku or an Apple TV or you have integrated apps in your smart television That seems to be the new trend and as a result you need to really pay attention to what's going on And let me explain why so first. Let me let me take a step back. I Love High-speed internet. I wanted high-speed internet ever since I was a little kid and the internet came out I guess a little kid would be like 13 But I guess for some a little kid might be a little younger than that But but I love internet and I wanted faster speeds. You always wanted faster speeds So when fiber internet was available to me, I weighed some options I had the current provider in this area, which was Comcast and AT&T and I did some comparisons I did a lot took a lot of steps Like I like I described in my video on how to save money today And I'll put that in the description on this side of the on this side of the screen Yeah, on this side of the screen about how to save money today on your expenses So I went through that process and landed on changing my current internet service provider and cable provider from Comcast to AT&T and saved around You know a couple bucks here or there, right? There's a pretty much an even Swap but what came with that was I had to also move my cable my current cable provider from a coaxial cable with like Boxes and and remotes and all that to more of a a I would say a streaming type service but more of a revolutionary type service because what they were really offering was AT&T TV now if you know anything about AT&T TV or you've had it in your home You really need to pay attention here because this is where things get kind of crazy I moved to AT&T TV and with that came, you know a standard set of packages that came these these boxes that had Google installed some type of Google OS Installed and you got a guide and you had a remote So really there was not much of a change as far as what a cable provider would provide you However, the key difference between what was being offered in AT&T TV versus what a cable provider would offer is that it all was Streaming-based you had to have a reliable internet connection That connection is what got you your television channels and you ultimately would change channels there It also came with a DVR service where you can Ask to record certain videos or you had on-demand type of videos Nothing that cable providers didn't offer but it was a little different in the sense that those particular shows were recorded to your DVR, but it was all cloud-based. So you didn't have to have a Particular cable box dedicated to saving your your information It wasn't on your box per say it was in the cloud and you would just stream it from the cloud to your device That's another wrinkle that really made this convenient because ultimately in what you could do is you could access your shows From anywhere that you had an internet connection You could be on the road if you traveled and and get to your show something that cable providers Tend to offer is additions to their service or has put in over time, but with AT&T TV. That's what I was getting I was getting the newest Streaming service all in the cloud Streaming, you know television channels the same channels you would normally get with cable providers and so on So that's the setup I had fast forward to today. What has happened since then so AT&T TV is no no no longer Active it's no longer a thing. So what happened was? AT&T decided to sell all of its book of business and every customer to direct TV now. This wasn't a Novel constant one like a revolutionary thing for the users of AT&T TV because ultimately in the end Which you come to find out is that AT&T TV really was just an extension of The direct TV stream business They had a very similar setup if not the same the box that I got the little Streaming box Was actually a direct TV box and you could go out and you could furnish your house with Direct TV boxes and they would say AT&T TV on them instead of direct TV So really what ended up happening for me when that happened was I received an email. It says hey AT&T is no longer AT&T TV. It's just direct TV stream and Your boxes will update You'll start getting direct TV instead of AT&T TV and nothing really in your experience will change You'll still have your unlimited storage. You don't have to move anything your accounts all the same We're gonna bill you actually and we'll actually Take the liberty of keeping everything the same for you So there was really no difference, right? There was I was a I was a direct TV customer And I didn't know it at least in in my head when I I got done here. So as I was saying fast forward to today What has happened? I did some research and just like anything else. I started with my process I said look I have a vendor here I'm gonna call my vendor and look to get a discount because ultimately my service is Changing and I want to save some money So I have to call my vendor and find out what I can move to so I did some research Looked and seen what was online and come to find out My current service that I was paying for through direct TV was actually Rated higher than the current service that I could move to so If I could really make an apples to apples comparison They were selling the same apple for less price to its existing customers So had you been a direct TV customer at the beginning Your price was actually less than the price that AT&T was charging and when I moved from AT&T TV to direct TV They did not afford me that discount Ultimately in the end. I was afforded Money's back because I made a fit. I I as a customer of theirs Wanted reliable service, which I was getting and I wanted to pay for the apples the same price They're right else was paying for because I felt like I deserved that and you actually do in this particular case Direct TV is a very large company and they do a lot of business with a lot of different people They know that Consumers have a lot of choices out there and as a consumer of of content or a sumer of of something On on a television screen streaming services like I said at the beginning of this video are ever popular people are buying Disney plus subscriptions or Hulu subscriptions or subscriptions to Netflix and they're ditching cable entirely cable providers know this and A place like direct TV has to remain competitive in that space because they are losing customers left and right to this New model this new way of doing things. I don't need a satellite dish With direct TV stream, but I also need it. I need a reliable internet connection to use it So in the end direct TV is in the business of wanting to to make money, right? And they need customers for that they have to remain competitive and that's why their prices are different So I wouldn't really encourage you to take the steps necessary to look into what it is that you're you're paying for and Whether or not that the current climate has afforded you these these levels of discounts because if you can fight hard enough for the things that you want and You find the value in the in the in the relationships that you have because I mean I could I could go back and forth and say You know what? I don't really like what direct TV has been doing and I don't like their service That isn't really the case what I don't like was the price for the service that they're offering because they were offering it to me for far more than What they're currently offering it to new customers and that is something I'm willing to fight for I'm willing to fight To be fair just a normal customer like everyone else because in this particular case I know there are thousands of other AT&T TV subscribers out there or former ones who got moved to direct TV who are paying more for the same service Then I am at this point because I've done the research because I went out and I looked at my bill And I went and looked at what the comparisons were out there And you can certainly think that that isn't always the case, right? That you may be in a much better situation But you really won't know until you actually look into it and that's what I'm out to say is that I Ultimately am that kind of person I'm the kind of person who wants to find value in their vendors and never wants to overpay for that value because there are many different other options out there like I was saying at the beginning of this video and Direct TV knows this so they are out to keep customers And you should take advantage of that particular need for them. They need customers. They want to continue to have a business They have a business plan that affords them the the ability to Provide you a service at a very competitive rate when it comes to streaming services And it's something that you should really look into if you have AT&T TV Or you had it before and you got moved to direct TV and you have a reliable internet service provider I would encourage you to look at this because ultimately in the end and this is one thing I didn't mention that I'll really mention in in in this part of the video I was also double paying for certain things I was afforded a streaming service as part of my internet service That if you go out and do the research, you'll know what streaming service that is But let me give you an example because I like to pick on Verizon all the time Verizon offers Netflix for free to its consumers, right? As part of its service for a certain period of time when you sign up for a new service you get Netflix for free How does that work? There there are associated deals between Verizon and Netflix because Verizon knows that you can save some money by In some sense bundling Netflix with your wireless plan now in the end You you may be paying for that in a roundabout way But brand loyalty or loyalty to the brand isn't something that is As prevalent anymore. So you have to have incentives AT&T The internet service provider was offering me a free streaming service And I was also paying for that on the direct TV side because once AT&T took that business and moved to direct TV Direct TV didn't care what internet service provider you had direct TV just offers the same streaming service as part of its Package and you could pay for it. And that's what happened. I got moved to that They charged me for that streaming service and then AT&T gave it to me for free on the back end So now I'm being double paid. I'm double paying for The same thing and that was also why this was so important You don't know where the the market is going if you're not paying attention to it And as soon as you you're raised awareness that could mean big savings to you So I would encourage you take a take a chance and spend some time Really looking at your bills really analyzing them and taking some of the steps that I explain in the videos about saving money today because these types of things are always changing and I'm certainly the benefit beneficiary of Being diligent and looking in and into my business expenses and to my expenses in general This is this is more of a personal and a business expense. But this is something that I know you could benefit from greatly and would hope that if you could do the same That you would put it in the comments section of this video today I am a direct TV stream provider and I sit or customer and I saved a bunch of money by calling them Or by looking at their website or by doing some research taking the steps necessary to save money I would love to hear that because I am on a mission this year. I want to say 52 people Money on their expenses their essential expenses and this would be of no exception If you saved money I'm keeping track of this because I want to make sure that that people that are tuned into this channel who understand What's really going on who are in in the know or trying to be in the know when it comes to this Actually do the right things for themselves And take advantage of the fact that vendors are out to take advantage of you That's what I have today and I really appreciate your time and attention to this If you haven't already, please subscribe to my channel would love it. Please like or comment Please share this with your friends and visit my website. I'm ken ross.com and until next time I'll see you around