U-verse

Wal-Mart to Begin Selling IPTV

Bernie — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:47:22 -0400

Wal-Mart has expanded its telecom services product line again. You can now add AT&T’s U-verse service to Wal-Mart's growing portfolio of broadband and telecom service offerings. AT&T announced the move on Monday, which also includes Circuit City as a retail channel for U-verse. Six hundred Wal-Mart and Circuit City locations near U-verse deployments will retail AT&T’s services in Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin. "We're excited to add AT&T U-verse to the list of must-have items that consumers can get from these leading retailers. Our services are the perfect fit to accompany and enhance customers' purchases,” said Glenn Lurie, president, National Distribution, AT&T in a company statement.

AT&T joins other triple play providers marketing their services at third party retail channels, taking note from the success of wireless retail strategies at these same stores. Most large MSOs already have retail relationships for their triple play offerings. AT&T has already been selling phone and DSL services at these locations. On the surface, these retail relationships make good sense. No better time to try to upsell IPTV and broadband, than when a customer is purchasing a new HDTV or computer. That being said, these triple play retail strategies have yet to prove their effectiveness. If AT&T can find a fraction of the success with U-verse that they find with third party wireless retail strategies, it will be well worth it. Certainly not an apples to apples comparison, but maybe it won’t be long before triple play service providers subsidize HDTV and computer purchases in retail stores to sell triple play bundles, much the same way they do with wireless devices today.

AT&T U-verse TV and AccuWeather.Com Debut Weather On Demand

Bernie — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 22:20:32 -0400

Dallas, Texas, October 7, 2008 - AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) and AccuWeather.com® today announced the initial launch of Weather On Demand, an interactive feature that allows AT&T U-verseSM TV customers to find the weather information they want, in the city they want, at the time they want — all at the touch of a button. Weather On Demand content is provided by AccuWeather.com, "The World's Weather Authority."

U-verse TV customers in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Indianapolis and San Diego can now enjoy the feature at no extra charge. AT&T plans to make the feature available to all U-verse TV customers in 2009. Read More ...

J.D. Power: TelcoTV Beats Cable

Bernie — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:16:28 -0400

The latest J.D. Power rankings for television service has AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS beating cable companies in customer satisfaction. There’s a sense of irony here, because according to J.D. Power, cable companies have been beating phone companies in telephone satisfaction. Payback I guess. AT&T U-verse led the pack, with the highest ratings in three of the four regions, including North Central, West, and South. Verizon FiOS ranked highest in the East region. WOW was the highest rated cable company, finishing second in the North Central region. DirecTV was the highest rated DBS provider, finishing second in the East.

Like the cable companies ratings in voice, telcoTV providers are probably on somewhat of a honeymoon with subscribers. Being the new kids on the block with new features and aggressive promotions tends to leave a “good taste” in the mouth of consumers. These ratings will mean much more after a few more years of competition in many more markets than today.

AT&T Toys With Convergence

Bernie — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 09:30:20 -0400

AT&T offered a preview earlier this week of their vision for convergence. They demoed technology that’s not publicly available yet, including linking the iPhone to U-verse services. For example, the iPhone can turn into a remote control for U-verse video services. Other applications will include the ability to download programming from a U-Verse DVR to an iPhone for mobile playback. AT&T CTO John Donovan tells Dow Jones, "You're going to see dramatic changes in the how we look and feel to our customers."

AT&T has taken its lumps lately, with slowing broadband growth and questioning of its FTTN strategy with U-Verse. Its trump card is wireless, and the iPhone is leading the way. AT&T knows it’s going to have to start integrating wireless into its wireline, broadband, and video strategies to take some of the shine off of its cable competitors. Wireless is their answer. The sooner they can integrate wireless and iPhone applications into their broadband and U-verse experience, the better off they’ll be. They need some of that “cool” factor in place for their entire product portfolio to hedge against any possible success from cable’s forthcoming attempt to integrate WiMAX into their triple play portfolio.

AT&T Confirms HD VOD Availability

Bernie — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 08:43:59 -0400

We reported about a soft launch of HD VOD last week and now AT&T has officially confirmed the availability of an HD VOD library. It is available to all U-verse customers. "With an extensive HD channel lineup, HD-capable equipment in every package, excellent picture quality and now HD VOD, AT&T U-verse TV is ready to provide the ultimate HD viewing experience for our customers," said Rich Wellerstein, AT&T vice president of Programming in a company statement. HD services are available to U-verse customers for an additional $10/month.

DirecTV and TiVo Expand Into HD DVR

Bernie — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 09:39:52 -0400

DirecTV announced that their relationship with TiVo has expanded and they will jointly develop and launch a TiVo powered HD DVR. According to the release, the new HD DVR “…will support the latest TiVo and DIRECTV features and services, including TiVo's Universal Swivel Search and TiVo KidZone. TiVo will develop the new HD DVR for an expected launch in the second half of 2009.” The deal is non-exclusive, and DirecTV will still develop and market its own set top boxes. DirecTV and TiVo began marketing traditional DVRs to the DirecTV customer base back in 2000. The relationship went through a rough patch when DirecTV was controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. But since Liberty Media took a controlling interest in DirecTV, the relationship is on better terms.

HD DVRs are increasingly seen as effective competitive weapons. DirecTV competitors, especially on the telcoTV side with AT&T U-verse, have been leveraging HD DVR to their advantage. DirecTV hopes this development will add some muscle to their existing HD DVR options, since TiVo is seen as a pioneer and leading developer of DVR technology. The move could also help DirecTV continue its lead over DISH. DISH is in real DVR trouble because of a legal dispute with TiVo. So far it’s losing that legal battle, and may suffer serious DVR setbacks if the losing trend continues.

AT&T Expands U-verse into Arkansas

Bernie — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0400

AT&T announced its continued expansion of U-verse, adding the Little Rock, Arkansas market to its growing market list. “Customers can currently order AT&T U-verse services in parts of more than six local communities, including Little Rock, North Little Rock, Benton, Cammack Village, Maumelle and Sherwood,” said AT&T in a company statement. The Arkansas launch also includes U-verse Voice services.

No Slowdown in TelcoTV

Bernie — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 09:01:43 -0400

Recent days have seen a flurry of new launches for video services by both AT&T and Verizon. Markets like Jacksonville, Florida, South Bend, Indiana, and Hampton, Virginia are all now able to receive video from the local phone company in addition to cable and DBS options. And it’s not just the large players either. Smaller telcos across the U.S. continue to launch IPTV services. Avail Media, an aggregator of content and IPTV solutions for smaller telcos, announced 20 new affiliates this week. The competitive posturing continues as well, with all kinds of promotions being offered to entice people to switch services. I live in the D.C. area and noticed a commercial from Comcast the other day promoting free DVR for a year – a direct response to Verizon FiOS’ ongoing free multi-room DVR promotion. The ongoing battle lines seem to be intensifying. Should be fun to watch.

U-Verse Pays a Visit to the Heartland

Bernie — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 17:35:25 -0400

AT&T announced that U-verse is live in Wichita, Kansas. U-Verse TV, broadband, and U-Verse voice are all now available in Wichita. AT&T has not been uniform with the launch of U-Verse voice at the same time as U-Verse TV. Some markets wait several months after the launch of U-Verse before the voice portion is available. "With the launch of AT&T U-verse TV, Wichita customers are finally getting a better choice to break free from cable," said Kristopher Ryan, AT&T general manager for Kansas and Missouri.

U-Verse Fantasizes About Football

Bernie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:24:52 -0400

AT&T announced a partnership with Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Football. The fantasy football feature will utilize the U-Verse U-bar to track fantasy teams and scores. The U-bar offers other interactive features focused on sports, weather, stock and traffic information. In a statement, G.W. Shaw, AT&T executive director of U-verse marketing says, “Because of the powerful integration that Internet Protocol (IP) enables, we're able to bring your personalized fantasy sports and NFL information directly to your TV screen.” The basic service is free, but a premium service featuring StatTracker, a real-time application that tracks player, team and league statistics, for $9.99 is available.