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AT&T adds two more IPTV markets

Marguerite Reardon Former senior reporter
Marguerite Reardon started as a CNET News reporter in 2004, covering cellphone services, broadband, citywide Wi-Fi, the Net neutrality debate and the consolidation of the phone companies.
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Marguerite Reardon

AT&T announced the launch in two more markets--Milwaukee and Racine, Wis.--of its U-verse high speed Internet and IPTV service on Wednesday.

The news comes just two days after the San Francisco Chronicle reported that there hadn't been any new U-verse markets added since last year. The company's CEO, Ed Whitacre, hyped the new service in January during the company's fourth-quarter earnings conference call, telling analysts that he expects to have U-verse available to 8 million homes by the end of 2007.

This is a tall order to fill considering that, with the launches in Wisconsin, AT&T's IPTV service is available in only 13 markets. And in those markets, it's available only to a handful of subscribers.

AT&T says that 7,000 people have signed up so far. In order to attract more customers, AT&T is offering the first two months of TV service, including HBO and Cinemax, for free.

Last year, AT&T had said it expected to have service available in 15 markets by the end of 2006, but the company changed its projections.

The slow pace of service deployments has been blamed on glitches with the Microsoft technology used to deliver the video streams over AT&T's upgraded DSL network. On Tuesday, AT&T told the San Antonio Express News that the issues have been resolved, and the company is ready to take its "foot off the brake and step on the accelerator."