Ownership of U-Verse TV

...there are a couple outlier results that claim AT&T reacquired 100% of U-Verse at the close of the sale of DIRECTV to TPG...

And here is yet another outlier result.

There have been no credible reports that anything of the sort happened.  Abraham Lincoln said it best when he said "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet."

I may be wrong here, but I believe:

AT&T is fully out of the video (TV) business.

AT&T currently sells:

--AT&T mobility, aka cell phones.

--Some sort of wireless home phone service. You get a box in your house which wirelessly communicates with AT&T computers.

--AT&T Internet Air.

This is the same box as above.

--AT&T Fiber Internet. This is a wired service and is much faster than AT&T Internet Air. Fiber speeds start at 300Mbps and go up to 5Ghz. Not all speeds are available in all areas.

DirecTV currently sells TV via satellite dish or streaming. For streaming, you can use their equipment which gives you a remote with channel numbers similar to U-Verse, cable or satellite. You can also use your own equipment like a modern game system, Chromecast or Roku.

I believe if you use their equipment, you need to return it, but I'm not entirely sure. You can legally buy these boxes on eBay because some early adopters didn't have to return equipment.

I believe all three options (satellite, streaming on their device or streaming on your device) are all known as DirecTV. There's no more "with internet", "stream" or anything like that.

As far as U-Verse, I believe DirecTV owns the content. They negotiate for channels. AT&T owns the infrastructure. If you return/swap equipment, you do it through AT&T. If you need a technician to come out, they're AT&T employees. When you call for tech support or to negotiate a promotion, you're calling AT&T.

DirecTV: Content, aka what you actually watch.

AT&T: Billing and *how* you watch, aka physical wires/equipment and other technical stuff.

DirecTV: The what.

AT&T: The who and the how.

DIRECTV owns U-verse TV, the brand, the subscribers, etc.  However, DIRECTV cannot service its subscribers without AT&T,

• it needs AT&T's distribution network,
• U-verse TV subscriber accounts are actually in AT&T's billing system and connected to the AT&T Internet account. 

Thus, AT&T handles billing, support and last mile distribution for U-verse TV.  I'm sure that AT&T is getting a large amount of the U-verse TV billing as a fee for performing these services.

The reason I asked is because @chrisawyer  on the now closed "Future for U-Verse" thread said that.  As expected AT&T still has to operate U-verse for DIRECTV.  I wonder how much longer that will go on before both agree to terminate the service. 

I think we all know the answer:

The people who know won't say until it's time. I'd hope they'd give us a month or so notice, but ya never know. I'm sure they won't just shut it down without notice.

The other thing to consider is that Microsoft once was updating the software which operates the receivers. We got an unexpected update not too long ago, but other than that, it's been years since one.

The reason I asked is because @chrisawyer  on the now closed "Future for U-Verse" thread said that.

I saw that.  I've seen it mentioned absolutely nowhere else, and I interpreted it as a troll post.  I'm not sure if his other 3 posts (which are missing now) were similar or they're missing for some other reason.

The U-verse app on my phone updated today and the first thing I noticed is the AT&T globe logo is gone. I wonder if the logo will soon disappear from the graphics on the on air guide and menus?

The AT&T globe is still there on my app and the globe has been gone from my tv guide for a very long time.  

I can confirm that AT&T no longer owns the U-verse TV product.  There are no changes to the service, billing or support.  Rebranding efforts are underway.  

@UVTVguru If you can share any information regarding rebranding or any other changes, we'd love to hear them!

When I press the "menu" button, I now see "U-verse TV" on the top. I believe this changed in late September.

When I press a button to bring up the green stripe (buffer), I now see very small writing on the right. This has also changed recently.