AT & T Operations Manager Says DirecTV is not for sale

Perhaps to stop recent rumors about DirecTV's plans, John Stankey, AT & T's director of operations, said the satellite operation was not for sale.

Stankey told The Wall Street Journal that DirecTV, which has lost millions of subscribers since its acquisition by AT & T in 2015, is "a significant part of what we will do in the future." He said that AT & T had explored the options for DirecTV part of a broader review of AT & T's assets, but this was standard practice.

According to Stankey, DirecTV is an important part of AT & T's streaming video and advanced advertising strategy.

Last week, the newspaper reported that AT & T was considering selling DirecTV. According to this report, the company has considered eventually converting DirecTV into a separate public company or selling the company's assets to its competitor Dish Network Satellite. However, according to a report by David Faber of CNBC, which appeared around the same time, AT & T was not actively considering selling DirecTV.

RELATED: After all, AT & T could sell DirecTV

A possible divestment of DirecTV has become a topic of discussion for AT & T after Elliott Management, a hedge fund that recently invested $ 3.2 billion in AT & T, sent a letter to the board of directors. administration of the company. Among the other suggestions made to AT & T, Elliott urged the company to consider divesting its distressed satellite television business as the pay-TV sector experiences a secular decline in the United States.

"In fact, the trends are getting weaker: AT & T pay TV subscribers are in rapid decline while the industry, especially satellite, struggles violently," the fund said in a statement Press. "Unfortunately, it became clear that AT & T had acquired DirecTV at the absolute top of the linear TV market."

AT & T has lost 778,000 subscribers to traditional video (with 168,000 subscribers to DirecTV Now) in the second quarter and warns that video subscriber losses could reach millions of people for the third quarter. However, the company's revenues in the video entertainment sector edged down only 1.7% to $ 8.03 billion in the second quarter. Overall revenues for the company's entertainment group declined by only 1% year-on-year and operating income increased 2.6% to approximately $ 1.5 billion.