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Advanced TV, AT&T Style
December 13, 2007
At 12:15 a.m. one night this week, I heard an AT&T commercial, out of the corner of my ear. It was pitching something called "advanced television."
Now this not something I'd heard AT&T promote before. And the next night, I heard it again.
At Multichannel News, we've naturally reported on AT&T and its U-Verse project, where it is rolling out TV services based on Internet protocols. In effect, data packet TV.
We've also reported on Homezone, which is a combination of Dish Network satellite TV and AT&T Yahoo! Internet service. And we've reported on the straight delivery of Dish Network's TV service in bundles with AT&T phone service.
But "advanced television"?
Well, it's hard to find out. That's for sure. Type in AT&T Advanced Television into your Web browser and you aren't going to get much. Just some grousing at www.uverseusers.com about what the term might or might not mean. Go to www.att.com and there is nothing to help you there either.
But, as
Jeeves99 says at the U-verse Users site, "By not explicitly saying 'Uverse' in the ad they also advertise the Dish satellite TV offering. Smart business move."
And that's the hedge. Typing in my zip code into the new customer field at www.att.com and then choosing "digital tv" yields
three choices in my part of Connecticut:
> U-Verse, at $59.00
> Dish Network, at $54.99, and,
> AT&T Homezone, at $70.95
AT&T is completely hedging its bets and letting the poor would-be customer figure out:
a. What each service really is
b. How each differs from each other
c. Which is more "advanced"
d. And which is the best value
Without side by side comparisons or tutorials.
Not very advanced. But, hey, it's only TV.
Wait another couple months and you'll get another way to define "advanced television,'' on your own, at www.att.com
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Posted by Tom Steinert-Threlkeld on December 13, 2007 | Comments (15)