AT&T upgrades U-verse DVR, steps up fight vs cable
September 9th, 2008 | by admin |NEW YORK, Sept 9 (Reuters) - Top U.S. phone company AT&TInc (T.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) upgraded the video recording function of itsInternet-based television service called U-verse, stepping upits competition against cable service providers.
Bundling high-speed Internet and video with phone servicesis a key part of AT&T’s strategy as it struggles to retaincustomers who are increasingly canceling landlines in favor ofmobile phones and alternative services from cable companies.
AT&T’s improved U-verse digital video recorder (DVR),called Total Home DVR, will enable users to record and playback multiple programs on different television sets around thehouse, a plus for big families, AT&T said on Tuesday.
Up to eight television sets will be able to accessrecordings from a single DVR, compared with the limit of one TVper DVR for most cable services, AT&T said. Total Home DVR canrecord up to four shows simultaneously, compared with two forcable.
The free upgrade will be deployed to all customers by theend of the year. It needs no visits from technicians or any newhardware as the advanced Internet protocol television (IPTV)system allows AT&T to upgrade its software remotely.
Vince Vittore, an analyst at technology research firmYankee Group, said the upgrade highlighted a key advantage ofIPTV.
“It’s the beginning of how they’re going to differentiatethemselves with cable and satellite,” he said. “It’s an all IPplatform, so they have the opportunity to roll out applicationsquickly in a very nationwide way,” he said. (Reporting by Ritsuko Ando, editing by Richard Chang)
