Lawsuit: AT&T’s DirecTV Now is a flop and AT&T lied to investors about it

Enlarge / AT&T logo. (credit: Mike Mozart / Flickr)

AT&T lied to investors in order to hide the failure of its DirecTV Now streaming TV service, a proposed class action alleges.

AT&T told investors that DirecTV Now was succeeding even as its subscriber base fell due to price increases and the discontinuance of promotional discounts, said the complaint filed Monday in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint accuses AT&T and executives including CEO Randall Stephenson of violating the US Securities Act by "knowingly or recklessly" making false statements to investors and failing to disclose problems that were affecting DirecTV Now sales.

Via quarterly and annual reports, SEC filings, press releases, and other statements and documents, AT&T and its executives made statements "to securities analysts and the media that were designed to influence the market for AT&T securities," even though these statements "were materially false and misleading in that they failed to disclose material adverse information and misrepresented the truth about AT&T's finances and business prospects," the complaint said.

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