Satellite and Streaming on the Directv App

I wouldn't recommend that. You will have to get a DirecTV DVR to go along with that Winegard satellite dish. And once you switch to Satellite service, your selection of streaming channels will be limited. I would suggest getting a Starlink dish and keeping DirecTV Stream service. That's what we do, both at home and when traveling in our RV. 

I have seen several references to "channels available to be streamed by satellite customers are limited" but is there no simple list of channels that are available to be streamed? Will I be able to stream ESPN, Golf Channel?

I've never seen such a list. It seems to be very location-dependent. 

I cannot get a consistent answer to this question.

I have heard everything from "you can't stream at all using the Directv app if you are a mobile satellite customer" to "it's the same experience using the Directv app whether you are a satellite customer or a streaming customer". The Directv website, under how to watch:

DIRECTV How to Watch | Streaming Live TV & Satellite

would indicate that it's the same experience.  "Watch anywhere anytime" it says whether you connect via satellite or internet. I've had people on this website say the same thing. "It's the same experience" they said. 

On several occasions I have spoken to representatives from Solid Signal who continue to tell me "that streaming is not available at all to users of Directv mobile satellite equipment".

On this forum and on several telephone calls with Directv customer service, one call taking over an hour, just to get to the answer that mobile satellite customers can stream using the Directv app, but only limited channels. After several attempts to list such limited channels, she apologized to me and said she could not share that information.

I know Directv is attempting to simplify their product offering. They say they want to offer a single experience to all their customers, but surely this is not it!

It would seem to me to be most efficient, that once a Directv app's user has their credentials authorized, they would simply determine the channel plan offering the user is eligible for and present those channels. An additional verification of whether the user is a satellite customer seems inefficient and for what reason? In my case, Directv does not bear the cost of the hardware nor the labor to install the satellite since I own it and it is mounted on the roof of my rv. Directv doesn't even provide customer support on this. As soon as you tell them that it's a Travler Pro, they give you Winegard's telephone number to call.

I was thinking that if I could use my satellite dish and have the convenience of streaming, I would agree to a 2 year contract, but for now, I will stick with month-to-month. 

George

Satellite service is intended for a fixed install on a home. You pay for each authorized TV on the service.

Since streaming would avoid that billing model, and risk account sharing, not all channels have permission for streaming on the satellite service. There is no official list of what may be streamed as a secondary perk.

Remember DirecTV the original satellite service was launched around the time of the World Wide Web, so years before streaming existing. The licensing permissions with the networks and design are all built around that. Satellite, over the air antenna, and streaming follow different rules and regulations that are not automatically interchangeable. Three different eras of tech that aren't fully integrated, but the dream is one day they would be almost interchangeable.

With the new owner taking over, and some changes we have seen recently with how streaming and satellite are listed and marketed, we might be approaching a change on this. But based on what you want, I wouldn't change to satellite at this time. 

DTV allows RV dealers and the mobile dish makers like Winegard to send new customer orders to them, so DTV doesn't provide support for them, you contact the RV dealer/dish maker.

It just seems to me that if Directv wants to present a unified product to its customers, it shouldn't matter if the customer brings their own device, whether it be a satellite dish or a Roku streaming stick, the customer should be able to pay the $100 or so a month and watch live tv. If a new Directv satellite customer signs up today, Directv could simply add that new user as a new Directv streaming customer and everything would work great!

Networks have different licenses for cable, satellite, and streaming. Because of this the product cannot be fully unified until those rules and permissions (some of them several decades old) are rewritten/negotiated to change.

So DirecTV cannot just add you to full streaming when you get satellite. Networks and the associated regulations will not currently allow it. So they might be laying the groundwork to adapt to such a unified model, if it ever comes to pass. But such a change wouldn't be soon. I would say we are in a time when the TV industry is trying to figure itself out going forward and we are just caught in the middle.

AFAIK whenever the contract comes up for renewal with the content providers then they will add streaming with the sat subscription to it with additional fees to customers regardless of the fact that they can't stream do to bad or no internet or just don't want to stream.

Directv currently advertises that streaming is bundled in with satellite subscriptions. Their website:

DIRECTV How to Watch | Streaming Live TV & Satellite

TV Your Way Over the Internet or with a Satellite Dish

Watch Anywhere

Get the DIRECTV app whether you connect via Satellite or Internet

It says they "can" stream. It doesn't guarantee all content.

DirecTV (satellite) has always had streaming be a secondary perk. That includes the app did not allow casting to a TV. It is a perk for on the go, nothing more.

Separately they now have their streaming options of DirecTV via Internet or DIRECTV STREAM, both of which are streaming-only.

It is not false advertising but consumers reading more into it than what is said. The advertisements talk up the points we want, but don't showcase limitations. Would be nice to have a bit more clarity on it of course, but the consumer coming to the wrong conclusion or assumption doesn't make the advertisement itself false.

As the streaming-only services are evolving, this is something that might change in the coming years. We can only confirm how it actually works now.

Plus they are not reading the fine print. From the link posted.

*DIRECTV APP: Available only in the US. (excl Puerto Rico and U.S.V.I.). Req's compatible device and data connection; data charges may apply. Not all channels available to stream. Limited to up to 3 concurrent streams. Restr's apply. Visit directv.com/app for more information.

What does "all content" even  mean? Why are the channels that satellite customers can stream using the Directv app a secret?

That fine print applies to all Directv streaming, whether you are a satellite customer or an internet customer. The implication being that certain channels may only be available via satellite.

OK Guys, I just spoke with a fellow camper here in the campground today and he has a Travler Pro dish installed on the roof of his RV using Directv. He told me that when he logs in to the Directv App on his Roku, he gets all his channels. When he travels, he said he streams the local channels of wherever he his.

This is awesome for me!

George

More channels have become available on the streaming app, but it will not be 100% all channels or content. Even channels that are there can limit their programming. For some people that is enough and they don't notice what they don't get as they wouldn't watch what is missing anyway.