AT&T gains IPTV subs, loses phone lines; FiOS solid for Verizon

AT&T added 231,000 U-Verse TV subscribers and now has 2.3 million TV subscribers and Verizon, which has announced it's pulling back its rollouts to new areas and concentrating on existing franchise points, added 168,000 FiOS TV customers to reach the 3 million mark, the companies said in a first quarter earnings announcement.

AT&T's U-Verse gains were balanced by the fact that 699,000 residential phone lines disconnected during the same period. Of course some of those subscribers did join the U-Verse triple or quad play option which explains why AT&T posted a gain of 255,000 wireline broadband connections.

Verizon, similarly, saw more FiOS Internet customers come on board, adding 185,000 subs during the quarter, indicating "good customer and revenue growth in FiOS and at Verizon Wireless," said CEO Ivan Seidenberg in a Verizon news release.

In other FiOS news, Verizon said it will use EBIF to accompany Showtime's Super Six World Boxing Classic. EBIF lets viewers use their remote controls to display fighter statistics and take part in interactive polls, as well as play trivia games and view fight calendars. Now there's something to do when the boxers go to their corners.

For more:
- see this story
- and this news release
- and this story

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