Dallas Business Journal

The promotions have continued since then. Currently, customers who prepay for four months get a free Apple TV 4K in return. One month of prepay earns customers a Roku streaming stick. And new customers can get $25 off their first month of service in accordance with DIRECTV NOW’s one year anniversary.

"To reach 1 million subscribers is an important benchmark for any OTT video service, but to go from zero to 1 million subscribers so quickly is quite an achievement," said Brett ...read more

Brett Sappington, senior director of research at Dallas-based Parks Associates, said that how AT&T markets and invests in DirecTV Now during the second half of 2017 could provide an indication as to how it will prioritize streaming TV moving forward. The Dallas telco otherwise has reason to play its preferences close to its chest, Sappington said.

“If you’ve hired someone to be in charge of DirecTV Now, you don’t want to tell them, ‘you’re a nice-to-have, but traditional is ...read more

Before news broke Friday that AT&T has stopped bleeding TV customers, Parks Associates analyst Brett Sappington tried to put a finger on what sort of subscriber numbers for the company’s new streaming TV service would warrant such a disclosure.

From the article "DirecTV Now Goes 'Gangbusters,' And AT&T Stops The Bleeding" by Shawn Shinneman.

AT&T (NYSE: T) reportedly has plans to make DirecTV Now its primary video platform by 2020, but researchers wonder whether consumers will allow such a rapid shift toward the future of TV.

“As far as a timeline, three to five years seems a little aggressive,” said Glenn Hower, an OTT analyst at Dallas-based market research firm Parks Associates. “I don’t think it’s possible.”

From the article "Can AT&T Really Drop The Dish By 2020?" by Shawn Shinneman.

John Barrett, director of research at the Dallas market-research firm Parks Associates, compares GameStop with another Dallas firm, Blockbuster Inc., which rents video games and movies both online and in bricks-and-mortar stores.

From the article, "GameStop taps former Playboy executive" by Jeff Bounds

A survey completed by Parks Associates found a correlation between how much a person spends on a personal computer and his or her education and income levels.

The Consumer Decision Process Annual Survey polled more than 5,000 U.S. consumers on their 2008 purchases and planned 2009 purchases. The survey shows that for every $1,000 in income, households will pay $1 more for a PC. In addition, individuals with graduate degrees will spend on average $100 more for a computer than th ...read more

Several factors add complexity to the process of deploying smart meters, analysts say.

Bill Ablondi, a New York-based director of home systems research at the market research firm Parks Associates, says utilities must get approval from state regulators for whatever way they want to pursue for paying for the meters. Then, he adds, “some utilities are deciding what is the benefit to them. By and large, many are testing the water by putting pilot programs in place to see if the ...read more

Harry Wang, director of health and mobile product research at Dallas-based Parks Associates, was among the few to forecast cell phone sales growth. Wang expects sales in the United States to hit between 134 and 136 million units next year, up from between 130 million and 132 million in ’08. That, he says, will be driven by the upgrade cycle.

Some 85% of consumers upgrade their phones after the two-year contract expires, he says. “That’s where the demand will be coming from.”

...read more