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AT&T's Internet TV service nears 500K users as traditional video business weakens

Ina Fried, author of Login

Mike Mozart / Flickr Creative Commons

AT&T said Tuesday that it now has nearly 500,000 subscribers in its Internet-based DirecTV Now video service. That comes amid continued losses in its traditional DirecTV video service.

DirecTV Now also faces a host of Internet-based competition, including Hulu, Dish Networks' Sling, Sony's PlayStation Vue and Google's YouTube TV. Sling leads the back, according to Ad Age, with an estimated 1.7 million subscribers, while Sony has around 450,000. Nielsen said earlier today it plans to start counting Hulu and YouTube TV along with the other leading TV services.

Earnings up, Revenue down: Overall, AT&T posted per-share earnings 79 cents, a nickel ahead of expectation and up nearly 10 percent from the prior year. Revenues, though were down a bit from a year-ago, to $39.8 billion amid weakness in both wireline and consumer wireless.

Phone business tough: AT&T said it added 2.3 million wireless customers in the U.S., but as has been the case for a couple years now, nearly all the gains came from connected cars and other non-phone devices.

Go deeper

Ina Fried, author of Login
34 mins ago - Technology

CES was largely irrelevant this year

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

Forced online by the pandemic and overshadowed by the attack on the Capitol, the 2021 edition of CES was mostly an afterthought as media's attention focused elsewhere.

Why it matters: The consumer electronics trade show is the cornerstone event for the Consumer Technology Association and Las Vegas has been the traditional early-January gathering place for the tech industry.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Sara Fischer, Ashley Gold
42 mins ago - Technology

The FBI is tracing a digital trail to Capitol rioters

Illustration: Sarah Grillo

Capitol rioters, eager to share proof of their efforts with other extremists online, have so far left a digital footprint of at least 140,000 images that is making it easier for federal law enforcement officials to capture and arrest them.

The big picture: Law enforcement's use of digital tracing isn't new, and has long been at the center of fierce battles over privacy and civil liberties. The Capitol siege is opening a fresh front in that debate.

Go deeper (2 min. read)Arrow
Jonathan Swan, Zachary Basu
48 mins ago - Politics & Policy
Off the Rails

Episode 6: Last stand in Georgia

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Drew Angerer, Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

Beginning on election night 2020 and continuing through his final days in office, Donald Trump unraveled and dragged America with him, to the point that his followers sacked the U.S. Capitol with two weeks left in his term. Axios takes you inside the collapse of a president with a special series.

Episode 6: Georgia had not backed a Democratic presidential candidate since 1992 and Donald Trump's defeat in this Deep South stronghold, and his reaction to that loss, would help cost Republicans the U.S. Senate as well. Georgia was Trump's last stand.

On Air Force One, President Trump was in a mood. He had been clear he did not want to return to Georgia, and yet somehow he'd been conscripted into another rally on the night of Jan. 4.

Go deeper (4 min. read)Arrow