DirecTV quietly offers service cord-cutters have begged for

If you know DirecTV primarily as a satellite provider, it may be time to change your impressions of what this company does.

DirecTV has been focused on building out its streaming service since 2016. It’s been a bumpy ride, since DirecTV rebranded itself as AT&T TV in 2021, then rebranded again as DirecTV Stream in 2021, and now has simply made streaming part of its main platform.

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Of course, cord-cutters have a lot of choices regarding where they get their TV. And DirecTV’s streaming platform doesn’t have a huge share of the market among streamers (although it does still hold the title as the largest pay-TV distributor in the nation via satellite).

The company has been very focused on changing that, though, with a number of new product offerings available for cord-cutters. Some of these offerings, like MySports, are similar to what other competitors have made available. However, DirecTV has also launched a new service that customers have been clamoring for and that doesn’t really have a direct competitor.

It’s a service that has long been in demand by cord-cutters, so it may entice more people to make the switch.

DirecTV has good news for customers who want better access to local channels.

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DirecTV offers an in-demand new service to set itself apart from other streaming services

DirecTV has quietly made moves to address one of the biggest pain points reported by cord-cutters: how challenging it is to access local broadcast channels without having to pay for a full-pay television package.

Now, DirectTV will offer exactly that, and for an affordable price. The company’s new bundle will cost $40 per month, and it will offer access to all four of the major broadcast networks that consumers would be interested in. This includes being able to carry local news and other programming from:

This access will come in five U.S. markets first, while more than a dozen additional U.S. markets will have access to three of the four big-name networks now. The local channels are being offered with the “MyNews” genre pack that was launched in February.

Cord-cutters finally get the channels they have been waiting for – at an affordable price

With this new change, DirecTV sets itself apart from competitors. That's because MyNews is now the cheapest option in multiple markets that makes it possible to stream local content, including both news and sports.

MyNews has been available since February, but at the time of its launch, it did not have the same access to all of these all-important local news channels. Those who signed up only got access to Fox and NBC stations for local coverage, while the cable news lineup only included CNN, NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, and Fox Business.

However, with DirecTV’s deal to bring in Paramount (including local CBS stations) and with a change that allowed local ABC stations to be added in mid-July, DirecTV now has an offering that consumers can’t find elsewhere.

In fact, for those who want access to at least three of the four local stations (or ideally four of the four), this is by far the cheapest option.

The only real alternative to DirecTV’s $40 package is Sling TV Blue, which only includes Fox and/or NBC in a small number of markets and which costs $46 per month. Outside of that, you’d be looking at plans charging upwards of $80 to gain access to all the big local broadcasts.

Local news channels are important to many because of the focus on the community where they live and, in some cases, a tradition of watching local news anchors.

Losing access has been hard for many cord-cutters, while some have been holding back on making the switch from traditional pay TV precisely because they wanted to retain all of their options for watching local news.

Now, DirecTV has a good offering, and it’s worth looking into for those who want an affordable streaming option with their familiar news anchors still showing up on their TV each night.