AT&T found great success with DirecTV Now during its initial launch, with close to 200,000 customers subscribing within the first four weeks of the service. However, that hype quickly died off as the service was plagued with complaints of poor customer service. Since then, AT&T has been careful to avoid providing more recent numerical updates on the success of the service. DirecTV Now must work to continue to, not only, build their subscriber base, but also increase retention of those subscribers To that end, AT&T announced earlier this month a new DirecTV promo built around free HBO access.
Going off the success of an earlier promotion that gave early DirecTV Now adopters free HBO for a year, AT&T has repackaged the HBO promotion in an effort to attract more customers to the higher tier portions of the service. There are two new promos in play. The first one targets DirecTV Now customers who are signed up for the Go Big ($60 a month) or Gotta Have It ($70 a month) packages. Customers who are signed up for those packages will receive 12 months of HBO at no extra cost. According to the fine print associated with the offer, the credit will be applied to the subscriber’s account within three billing cycles.
Since HBO is normally $5 a month, customers are essential receiving $60 off their programming over the course of a year. If you already subscribe to HBO, you’ll receive a $5 credit every month for a year.
The second promotion applies to DirecTV Now customers who subscribe to the Live A Little or Just Right plans. Customers who are subscribed to either of those plans will not receive free HBO, but instead a $5 monthly credit (same value as HBO) for six months.
It’s interesting to note that these promotions come at precisely the same time those who signed up for a three-month promo of the service are being billed for their first paid month. These new promos are likely a marketing strategy to retain as many of those promo users as possible. AT&T says that anyone with all existing DirecTV Now customers qualify for these promotions.
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