AT&T’s Stephens: DirecTV Integration ‘On Track’

AT&T’s merger with DirecTV provides a platform of mixed distribution methods for video, but the company spent a good part of its third quarter earnings call Thursday talking up the synergies of the deal.

“The integration of DirecTV is…on track,” AT&T CFO and senior VP John Stephens said. “We expect to meet or beat our $2.5 billion cost synergy target, and we're just beginning to unleash potential promotional activities to drive bundled sales.”

As for the early focus of those synergies, he said AT&T is now selling DirecTV service in most of its 2,200-company-owned stores (viewed as a “first line of synergy”), and the next step will be to extend that to certified dealers, via online sales channels and “ramping up” of sales in call centers. Some of those stores, he said, had never sold a video product before.

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