DirecTV is offering a free Apple TV 4K if you pay for four months of service in advance

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited December 2019
In case you missed the last few times that DirecTV Now and AT&T wanted to give you an Apple TV 4K with four months of service pre-paid, now's your chance.

Apple TV 4K with Siri Remote


The company is offering up the Apple TV 4K, plus four months of service for $200 again. Considering the 32 gigabyte Apple TV 4K retails for $179 alone, the programming effectively costs $21 for four months.

The streaming platform provides users with a variety of popular cable channels, including properties owned by AMC, Discovery, Disney, NBCUniversal and Viacom, among others. In November 2017, AT&T struck a deal with CBS to carry streaming and on-demand content from CBS News, CBS Sports Network, The CW, Pop and Showtime.

Along with the Apple TV, DirecTV Now supports a wide variety of internet-connected devices including Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, iPhone, iPad, Android hardware, Chromecast, and Google Cast-enabled LeEco ecotvs and VIZIO SmartCast Displays. Subscribers can also access programming through web browsers.

AT&T's offer is available to new subscribers while supplies last. For more information on the Apple TV 4K, please see our hands-on review.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 15
    deminsddeminsd Posts: 143member
    And the writer also was incorrect in stating that previously the DTVnow deal was for 4 months of service...it was free AppleTV 4K for $105 (3 months @ $35/mo).

    So not only has DTVnow increased their monthly from $35 to $50, but they've required an extra month of service.  




    redgeminipajbdragondavgreg
  • Reply 2 of 15
    ZooNetZooNet Posts: 5unconfirmed, member
    Why does everyone think they cut Discovery and Viacom and others? I still get them, and while the 2 introductory pkgs do not include them, they are still listed in OTHER PACKAGES...

    Where do they specifically state they have removed them or will remove them?
  • Reply 3 of 15
    applesauce007applesauce007 Posts: 1,698member
    The price of video streaming has gone up and I don't think it will come down any time soon, unless the providers start offering 5G streaming deals.

    I subscribed to DirecTV Now on day one and got a free AppleTV and the GoBig package and when I look back now, I am very happy I did because it was a great deal.
    I prepaid $35 per month and although my price has since gone up to $50, it is still a good deal because I count 134 channels in the now grandfathered GoBig Package which is no longer offered.

    Note that the DirecTV Now service is much better now than it was when I signed up.  
    * HBO is included in the package and Games of Throne is coming. :smile: (That's a $10-$15 value)
    * DVR is included in the package at no extra cost.
    * DirecTV Now have partnered with AppleTV service to support single sign-on and SIRI channel tuning.
    * You can stream all the channels from anywhere in the country over 4G, WiFi or Wired.
    * AT&T has worked out most of the kinks and the streaming is now excellent and channel switching is fast including SIRI tune to, switch to, change to commands etc...

    So if you were planning to switch to streaming anyway, then this is not a bad deal because the monthly price is competitive for the package and you get a free AppleTV, HBO and DVR.



    daven
  • Reply 4 of 15
    dcgoodcgoo Posts: 280member
    It is definitely the promotion of the month club around AT&T.  In February they were giving away the AppleTV 4K if you signed up for fiber Internet service for a year.  I was already using DTV Now, but not with their fiber internet, so I picked up one during that promotion.

  • Reply 5 of 15
    applesauce007applesauce007 Posts: 1,698member
    ZooNet said:
    Why does everyone think they cut Discovery and Viacom and others? I still get them, and while the 2 introductory pkgs do not include them, they are still listed in OTHER PACKAGES...

    Where do they specifically state they have removed them or will remove them?
    If you are grandfathered into one of  the older plans, then you will continue to get all your channels.  
    If you were to cancel your old subscription and then resubscribe, then you would lose them.
  • Reply 6 of 15
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,861administrator
    deminsd said:
    And the writer also was incorrect in stating that previously the DTVnow deal was for 4 months of service...it was free AppleTV 4K for $105 (3 months @ $35/mo).

    So not only has DTVnow increased their monthly from $35 to $50, but they've required an extra month of service.  




    There have been a variety of deals for three months of paid, and four.

    But you're right. The monthly price has gone up.
    edited April 2019 redgeminipa
  • Reply 7 of 15
    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt Posts: 2,132member
    I guess whether or not one of these is a good deal or not depends on whether one things DTV Now programming is worth $5.25 per month.  I'm not convinced it would be for me, but maybe I'm wrong.
  • Reply 8 of 15
    tomahawktomahawk Posts: 178member
    ZooNet said:
    Why does everyone think they cut Discovery and Viacom and others? I still get them, and while the 2 introductory pkgs do not include them, they are still listed in OTHER PACKAGES...

    Where do they specifically state they have removed them or will remove them?
    Probably because even AT&T says they removed them.  Existing customers were able to keep them.  They are no longer available for new customers. https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/13/18263839/att-directv-now-2019-channel-changes-hbo-plan-price

    Also curious why AppleInsider thinks just because they fixed one of the errors in their story they should remove ALL of the comments pointing out the other issues.  As I pointed out in the comment I can't find anymore, AMC is no longer included.  Neither is any Viacom channel currently (although rumors are they might come back in a few days based on a new agreement).

    We were ready to switch to DTVN now as soon as they supported signing into TLC's native app (something my wife wanted).  With their new change, I can't figure out why anyone would choose their service over other options (they used to have the most complete package of the channels we watch).  Now we're stuck waiting to see what Apple TV's new service offers or having to subscribe to more than one service to get all the channels.
  • Reply 9 of 15
    redgeminiparedgeminipa Posts: 555member
    I suffered through DTVNow’s BS from the beginning to earlier this year. While it did improve a great deal, the price hikes started to leave me searching for alternatives. DVR is a nice addition, but it’s very unreliable, usually recording shows you never watch, and from channels you’ve never even looked at. On top of that, many times we’d set it to record a show, and it never did. When the promo was introduced, it was promoted to make subscribers think it was a locked-in price of $35 for GoBig, then the $5 increase hit. Fine print changed to saying you were locked into a $15 discount, meaning they can jack up the price as much as they want, and you have to keep paying the increase. We finally had enough, and switched to Philo for $20 per month for 54 channels. Any networks that offer sports is absent, but we’ve found alternatives for watching.
  • Reply 10 of 15
    davendaven Posts: 696member
    Slow time of the year. I cut back on watching TV as the days get longer and I'm sure a lot of other people do the same. Now if they offer the package in October, I'd go for it again.
  • Reply 11 of 15
    qwweraqwwera Posts: 281member
    I took advantage of the previous deal to get the current 4K Apple TV, and it was indeed 3 months for a lower total cost. It was a great deal. But I have to say the Apple TV as it stands, especially with the abomination of a remote is not a great product. I was thinking that with the better processor and ecosystem we would be getting great upcoming services. But no. It does nothing that a $25 streaming stick can do. 
    I would not recommend anyone getting this version of the Apple TV and wait it out until the next iteration and see what they have to offer. As it stands now, the Apple TV is not worth it.
  • Reply 12 of 15
    tomahawktomahawk Posts: 178member
    qwwera said:
    I took advantage of the previous deal to get the current 4K Apple TV, and it was indeed 3 months for a lower total cost. It was a great deal. But I have to say the Apple TV as it stands, especially with the abomination of a remote is not a great product. I was thinking that with the better processor and ecosystem we would be getting great upcoming services. But no. It does nothing that a $25 streaming stick can do. 
    I would not recommend anyone getting this version of the Apple TV and wait it out until the next iteration and see what they have to offer. As it stands now, the Apple TV is not worth it.
    We love the Apple TV itself (which we got free for trying three months of DTVN).  They should offer a more complete remote, even if you had to pay for it, but I think services like DTVN could offer one as an add on as well.  Being able to quickly mirror our Apple computer, phones, etc. alone makes it worth having one.  We also use a number of them at work as the management works very well and security for conference rooms is perfect.

    We liked the DTVN service but it was lacking in a couple of areas.  They fixed the lack of single sign-on finally, but didn't ever fix that you couldn't sign into all of the apps for all of the networks.  Rather than fix it, they just dropped a lot of the networks and increased the costs.
  • Reply 13 of 15
    skelingtonskelington Posts: 4member
    Just canceled my DTVN trial. Wanted to see how it stacked up to PSVue. PSVue is hands down a better product with more channels for the same or lower price.
  • Reply 14 of 15
    larz2112larz2112 Posts: 291member
    I just canceled my DTVN account two weeks ago, and coincidentally a few hours after I canceled I got an email informing me that the monthly charge was increasing yet again to $50/month. It made me laugh. I have an Apple TV and an Apple TV 4K thanks to previous DTVN promotions, which were to prepay for three months of service, which was $105 ($35/month x 3). 

    After I got the first Apple TV AT&T tried to raise the monthly cost so I canceled. Then they had a similar promotion last summer but with an Apple TV 4K. They also now had DVR functionality, so I figured for a free Apple TV 4K I've give them another try. After the prepaid three months were up I continued my service for $35/month. But after a month I was notified that the cost would increase to $40/month so I called to cancel. To keep me from canceling they offered me three months at $30/month, so I didn't cancel. Then in January of this year (after the three months was up) the cost jumped to $40/month. After paying that for a couple of months I decided there are better options in that price range and more affordable options, so I canceled my service a couple of weeks ago. And as I mentioned, literally a few hours later I received an email that the cost would be increasing from $40/month to $50/month, which told me I made the right choice. 

    I think I gave DTVN a fair chance and they kept raising prices. Now I'm going to give Philo ($16/month) or SlingTV ($25/month) a try.
  • Reply 15 of 15
    davgregdavgreg Posts: 1,037member
    I have tried all the streaming services except PlayStation Vue and DTVN is not the best and customer service is nonexistent, plus they just raised prices.

    Last year, they switched some aspect of sign-on and jacked up my ability to sign in to any AT&T platform, to include my iPhone and iPad Pro with LTE. I also could not log in to watch the DTVN I was paying for.

    No help by phone or online worth bothering with, so I went to an AT&T store where I was informed that they could do nothing to help me- for an AT&T product at an AT&T store. If we reset the DTVN PW I could not get in to AT&T to manage my cell accounts and if we reset the AT&T PW it would lock me out of DTVN. After numerous rounds of this with AT&T I fixed the problem by canceling the DTVN and switching to YouTube TV.

    The only downside to YTT is the lack of HBO which is now unfortunately the property of AT&T.
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