AT&T Misses TV Target
U-Verse Reaches 11 of 15 Markets At End of 2006
By Todd Spangler -- Multichannel News, 12/31/2006 7:00:00 PM
In this story:
COMCAST’S BAY AREA BOOST
AT&T fell short of its goal of offering U-verse TV in 15 markets by the end of the year, even as it raced to beat the clock with announced availability of the service in seven metro areas last week.
In a statement, the company in part blamed the slowdown on the need to “make enhancements” to the Internet Protocol TV software provided by Microsoft. The telco had told investors in October it would begin commercially offering the service in a total of 15 markets by the end of 2006, but AT&T last week confirmed it would hit only 11 by New Year’s Eve.
| Coming Up Short |
|---|
| At the end of 2006, AT&T’s TV service was available in limited areas in or around 11 metro areas: |
| Source: AT&T |
| San Antonio |
| Houston |
| San Francisco |
| San Jose, Calif. |
| New Haven, Conn. |
| Stamford, Conn. |
| Hartford, Conn. |
| Indianapolis |
| Anderson, Ind. |
| Bloomington, Ind. |
| Muncie, Ind. |
On Dec. 28, AT&T announced limited availability of U-verse TV in four Indiana markets: six towns near Indianapolis, as well as parts of Anderson, Bloomington and Muncie. Two days prior, it announced availability in parts of the Connecticut markets of New Haven, Stamford and Hartford.
The other areas AT&T has begun selling U-verse TV are its initial test market of San Antonio, as well as some Houston neighborhoods and four cities near San Francisco and San Jose, Calif.
Asked why it missed the 15-market goal, AT&T responded in a statement: “We revised the number of markets to make enhancements to our IPTV software and other systems based on some key learnings in our initial markets. … We want to ensure we’re doing everything possible to meet and exceed customers’ expectations.”
The telco is using Microsoft’s IPTV Edition software to provide key functions for U-verse TV, including an interactive program guide, video-on-demand and digital-video recording services.
AT&T is deploying infrastructure for U-verse TV elsewhere in the 13 states where it provides telephone service, including several suburban Chicago communities; Milwaukee; Anaheim, Calif.; and Reno, Nev. But AT&T has met with local resistance in some areas. The city of Milwaukee, for example, filed a lawsuit this month seeking to prevent AT&T from offering U-verse TV until an agreement on cable-franchise fees is worked out (see story below).
AT&T spokesman Brad Mays denied that the Milwaukee lawsuit and other disputes with local governments have slowed the rollout of the TV service.
The company last week said it remains “on track” to be able to offer U-verse TV to 19 million units by the end of 2008.
As of Sept. 30, AT&T reported that it had a total of 3,000 U-verse TV subscribers, all in San Antonio.
COMCAST’S BAY AREA BOOST
Meanwhile, Comcast last week announced it would spend $80 million over the next 18 months upgrading cable networks serving 250,000 homes passed in eight Northern California cities, including Saratoga, which is one of the towns in which AT&T now offers U-verse TV.
Comcast said it plans to lay more than 2,200 miles of fiber-optic cable in those systems, which were acquired from AT&T Broadband in 2002. The new hybrid fiber-coax networks will provide 1 Gigahertz of bandwidth; most cable systems today top out at 750 or 870 Megahertz.
The upgrade will let Comcast provide voice and video-on-demand services — which are currently unavailable to subscribers in those systems — as well as more channels.
“An investment of this magnitude is further evidence of Comcast’s commitment to our Bay Area customers and community,” Comcast regional senior vice president Rick Germano said in a statement.
U-verse TV Pitched to Chicago Suburbs
01/28/2008U-verse TV Counts To A Million
12/16/2008AT&T Misses U-verse TV Target
12/28/2006AT&T Touts U-verse TV Gains In Texas
02/17/2010AT&T U-verse TV Connects in Conn.
12/27/2006
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