AT&T TV Becomes DirecTV Again, Changing Name on August 26, 2021

• DirecTV will welcome AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now subscribers as a new streaming business.
• The move comes as a refocusing effect that has more of a marketing rather than a practical value.
• The same brand names had been swapped roughly two years ago, with little success on the outcome.

AT&T TV will change its name back to DirecTV Stream, which will unify the AT&T TV and AT&T TV Now on August 26, 2021. Subscribers of the AT&T TV services have received a relevant notice since last week, informing them of the upcoming change so that they won’t be shocked or worried that they logged in to the wrong app.

A spokesperson of the company has explained to the press, the rebranding is needed in order to bring everything aboard the new corporate entity that was spun off when AT&T and TPG Capital agreed to make DirecTV a standalone video business. For more details on that, read the company's official announcement from a couple of weeks back.

The goal of this move is to return DirecTV back to its roots, focusing on video streaming/beaming experience and content quality. The executives of the two parties believed in the iconic value of the brand and saw this as the right moment.

DirecTV has been around since 1994, gradually evolving into a central media consumption hub featuring NFL and NBA games in 4K HDR, and access to Prime Video, Netflix, HBO Max, and more. HBO Max, though, which is also owned by AT&T through WarnerMedia, won’t be incorporated into the new platform.

Notably, DirecTV Now was rebranded into AT&T TV Now back in July 2019, because apparently, AT&T wanted to give a sense of unification and simplicity to its customers. Probably, this created more confusion than what it was expected to solve. Possibly, the entity was also looking to de-associate its streaming venture from investor complaints and negative press, and just draw a new line to make a fresh start.

The only changes that came back then were on the name and the logo, and this time isn’t expected to be any different. The firm states there should be no disruption for the subscribers, and no content access changes whatsoever.