DirecTV Now has Three Streaming Services to rival Dish’s SlingTV

Skinny bundle programming packages have taken the TV sphere by storm. After years of arguing about the high cost of premium channel packages, it has now become almost a trend to go in for something smaller and more affordable. Many consumers go to the extent of letting fall their pay-TV options, although that could prove a bit too minimalistic for some.

In the skinny bundle area, Dish has shown itself to be the keenest to market its own offering, and we’ve all heard of the SlingTV service. It’s got around 20 channels for about as many dollars a month, which include popular ones like ESPN, ESPN2, CNN, TBS, and TNT. Being streaming based, the service brings you TV programming over the internet, and doesn’t place charges for a cable box setup. There’s everything but the sheer range of programming you get with traditional pay-TV.

AT&T, since their acquisition of the DIRECTV sat-caster service, has put out three TV streaming services to compete with SlingTV. These three are streaming based too, and come with a wide range of offerings. Besides that, there’s also DirecTV Mobile for portable devices. Each package brings a value deal for customers who aren’t keen on paying premium charges, but again, the same lineup cannot be found here. DirecTV Now is good for cord shavers who want the best of both worlds – it’s less pricey while still carrying substantial content programming. The mobile packages are better suited to the millennial crowd, and DirecTV Preview serves as a Freemium model for new subscribers.

AT&T has said the options will be appealing to a lot of people because of the bundled internet option. If you forgot, this is the leading telco in the country, so it makes sense that any streaming services they sell would be bundled with a solid data plan. SlingTV still hasn’t matched up on that front, while AT&T has already been offering unlimited mobile data for DirecTV customers. There’s already been a swell in the number of new subscriptions to the three new packages.

Right now, DirecTV Mobile seems to be the most vital pick of the lot, especially for AT&T if they’re hoping to entice a good part of the millennial crowd into signing up. These developments show that there’s unquestionable demand for lower-cost pay-TV services. Both companies will almost definitely respond to it, and hopefully they’ll start giving out better promotions before the end of the year.