Why is DirecTV Now’s VOD still so bad?

Tony L
2 min readAug 21, 2017

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Some people subscribe to DirecTV Now (or Sling, or Hulu, etc.) to watch live TV. Many, however, cannot watch what they want live. And furthermore, many do not want to view the commercials that appear during live TV, so instead depend on DVRs or Video on Demand (VOD).

Since DirecTV Now does not have a DVR function, VOD is of the utmost importance to those many users who cannot watch their preferred shows live.

Then why is it still so bad?

Let’s compare DirecTV Now’s VOD to Sling TV’s VOD.

Network: The Disney Channel
Show: Bizaardvark

DirecTV Now:

Sling:

Comment: DirecTV Now has 3 episodes of the current season. Sling has 8.

Network: HGTV
Show: Caribbean Life

DirecTV Now:

Sling:

Comment: DirecTV Now has 8 episodes of the current season. Sling has 12.

Network: Fox
Show: The Last Man on Earth

DirecTV Now:

Sling:

Comment: DirecTV Now has 8 episodes of the current season. Sling has 18 (which is all of the episodes from that season).

Since DirecTV Now does not have a DVR function, they *should* be highly concentrated on making sure that their VOD content is as comprehensive as possible. Instead, it lags behind its competitors.

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