AT&T plans 21-market IPTV roll out

Building on its experience in San Antonio, AT&T has announced plans to offer IPTV in 21 markets by the end of 2006. AT&T's U-verse package, which will be delivered over the company's Lightspeed infrastructure, will offer a broad range of services including TV, broadband and VoIP. AT&T executives won't say which additional markets it plans to target in coming months, but it's likely the telecom giant will stick to smaller cities for a while. AT&T's San Antonio customers already get 200 channels of content, picture-in-picture browsing, digital video recording and video on demand. New services will include interactive games and programs, plus a feature offering alternative content based on a customer's viewing history. Offering new interactive content is a good move for AT&T--while lower prices may convince customers to try IPTV, interactive services should help the telco retain them for the longer term.

For more background on AT&T's plans:
- Read this TechWeb.com article

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