Clark Howard

DirectTV Now: Why Clark Howard has changed his mind

When AT&T's DirecTV Now launched in late 2016, money expert Clark Howard was among the first to sign up for the streaming service to find out if it was a good replacement for traditional cable and satellite TV.

But after endless glitches, including error messages and buffering, Clark said DirecTV Now wasn't ready for prime time.

RELATED: Clark’s TV bundle will cut your cable or satellite bill in half!

DirecTV Now 2018 review: What you need to know about AT&T’s live TV streaming service

In the months that followed, Team Clark began testing other live TV streaming services: Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, YouTube TV and Hulu with Live TV — but we decided to revisit DirecTV Now after feedback from Clark's Facebook fans.

When we shared stories about the other services, a number of people told us that DirecTV Now worked out all the kinks.

About a year after Clark initially tried DirecTV Now, he signed up for a 7-day free trial to see if anything had changed. He recently told his radio show listeners about his experience the second time around.

“When I tried DirecTV Now for seven days, it was flawless. It was really great,” Clark said.

Listen to Clark talk about live TV streaming options on The Clark Howard Show Podcast

AT&T said it had more than one million DirecTV Now subscribers at the end of its first year. Its "Live a Little" package is $35 per month and provides 60+ channels — with no cable box or long-term contracts.

Local channels are included in the base bundle, plus popular networks like these:

A&E, Bravo, CNN, Disney, ESPN, Fox News, History, HGTV, MSNBC, Nickelodeon, TBS, TNT, USA

DirecTV Now doesn’t currently have DVR capabilities, but an AT&T spokesperson confirmed to Clark.com that cloud DVR is coming soon with the launch of its next-generation platform this spring.

Here are a few other important details about DirecTV Now’s service:

  • Watch shows and movies on your phone, computer or TV
  • Stream on up to two devices at the same time
  • Store up to 100 On Demand titles in your Watchlist for later viewing

Video: See how to watch live TV on DirecTV Now 

For all live TV streaming services, you’re going to need to have a reliable high-speed internet connection.

To watch DirecTV Now on the big screen, you'll also have to get a compatible device, such as Google Chromecast, Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV. See the full list of supported devices here.

Deal alert!

Right now, DirecTV Now is offering an Apple TV 4K or Amazon Fire TV Pendant for free to new customers who prepay for service.

Team Clark reached out to DirecTV Now's customer support to ask if returning subscribers would be eligible for these deals and a separate three months for $10 per month offer (promo code YESNOW3) that's going on right now.

The chat representative suggested that we sign up using a different email address to get one of the new limited-time deals.

Not sure if DirecTV Now is right for you? Clark’s guide to the best live TV streaming plans and deals will go live Tuesday, February 27 at 10 a.m. — only on Clark.com.

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