AT&T seek TV dominance with U-verse
AT&T surely has been making a name for itself, what with the recent acquisition of Cingular, and the long exclusivity deal with Apple for the iPhone. Now, to top it off, they are trying to gain a foot up in the television market with a new product called U-verse, which will give users television through…telephone lines?
AT&T has already started processes towards advancing its new campaign; they will be spending 6.5 billion in the first phase of development, and they have already started sending service to 14 California communities, according to the L.A Times.
The program will use new and existing telephone lines and fiber optic cables to provide television programming to nearly everywhere current phone users get service.
However, the concept of utilizing phone lines to deliver quality television programming is doubted by many; James McQuivey, an analyst for Forrester Research Inc. said, “They have to make sure it works just as well as cable. Then they have to differentiate it. Because if it works just as well, why switch?”
An astute observation. Though AT&T claims their U-verse service will provide faster channel changing than other competitors, they will only be able to handle one single HD broadcast at a time…so if you were thinking about recording an HD show while recording another, you’re plum out of luck.
Additionally, normal telephone lines just don’t have enough capacity to handle high-speed internet and high-definition television.
AT&T may be ill-equipped to join the high-powered battle for the television market. Verizon is quickly becoming a large competitor to giants like Comcast because of the superior performance and lower prices, and Direct TV is offering freebies left and right to steal cable customers…what, if anything, can AT&T offer to the fray?
Though the plan may be underpowered, AT&T is compensating for this by allowing a few features, such as a free DVR box and more capable browsing features, to sweeten the deal.
The L.A time more completely documents the unique features that distinguish U-verse, so if you’re interested, read on. However, it may be that the true key to AT&T’s success will be the number of customers who want their television and phone bills consolidated.
Why get seperate bills from Comcast and AT&T when you can get virtually the same channels with a few distinctions from AT&T, and cut out the other party?
Though AT&T may hype new features and options for their new TV system, the best way they could go about effectively marketing and selling the service would be offering discounts to existing customers who agree to use both services; in that way they will win the pocketbooks of Americans who really, regardless of features and distinctions, just want simplicity in a hectic world.
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May 27th, 2007
Uh, excuse me, but wasn’t the internet created by hooking up two universities?
December 14th, 2011
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