AT&T U-verse

Because the [itvt] editorial team has been working on The TV of Tomorrow Show 2012, we are covering stories in this issue in round-up/summary format.

Due to the large volume of news being generated by this week's 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), we are covering stories in this issue in round-up/summary format. We anticipate that it will take us several days to process all the news from the show: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us. While the [itvt] editorial team catches up with CES news, please check out the live Twitter coverage of the show from [itvt] bloggers, Will Keller and Zachary Weiner, by following the @tswedlow Twitter feed.

Because the [itvt] editorial team was recently on the road for several weeks--and has also been working on TVOT NYC Intensive 2011--we are covering stories in this issue in round-up/summary format. We anticipate that it will take us a few more days to catch up with all the recent news: so if your company has sent us a press release or briefed us on an announcement, and you don't yet see your news covered in this issue, please bear with us.

Disney-ABC Domestic Television said Monday that its subscription VOD (SVOD) service, Disney Family Movies, has partnered with Comcast, Charter, Cox, AT&T U-verse, Suddenlink, Verizon FiOS TV and various operators that are affiliates of VOD content distributor, Avail-TVN, to offer a free preview from Thursday, September 2nd through Monday, September 6th.

The free preview, which will be hosted by Phylicia Rashad, will offer a range of classic and contemporary Disney movies, including "Pocahontas," "Muppet Treasure Island," "A Bug's Life," and "Monster Truck Mater" (note: the latter two titles are Disney-Pixar productions), Disney said.

AT&T said last week that, over the coming weeks, it will roll out several enhancements to the DVR service of its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV platform, U-verse TV, and also add new functionality to the platform's YP.com (Yellow Pages) interactive TV application.

AT&T on Monday announced two new interactive TV services and new "Media Share" functionality for its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV service, U-verse TV. The new ITV services are Multiview, which allows viewers to watch multiple channels at once; and TV Awards and New Shows, which is designed to keep viewers up-to-date on the fall season's award shows and premieres. The new Media Share feature, meanwhile, allows viewers to stream personal photos and music files from their PC to the TV set. All three enhancements are being offered at no additional charge.

AT&T's Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV Service, U-verse TV, last week began running pop-up ads that offer subscribers free Domino's pizza and a 2-liter bottle of coke, if they upgrade their subscription to include the Showtime premium programming service or AT&T's The Movie Package or U300 programming packages (which include Showtime channels). The ads, which invite viewers to call a toll-free number to upgrade their service and then go to http://www.dominosoffer.com to redeem a coupon, provide them with two options: "Dismiss" and "More Info." The existence of the campaign was first reported by DSL Reports, which was alerted to it by users complaining about the pop-up ads in its U-verse discussion forum.

US incumbent telco, AT&T, announced Thursday that it has launched an iPhone/iPod touch remote DVR scheduling and management application for its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV service, U-verse TV (note: AT&T currently has exclusive rights to offer the iPhone in the US). The app, dubbed the U-verse TV Mobile Remote Access App for iPhone and iPod touch, is available free-of-charge in the Apple App Store.

US incumbent telco, AT&T, announced a number of enhancements, Tuesday, to its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV service, U-verse TV (which, at last count, had around 1.3 million subscribers).