For its ACSI Telecommunications Study 2021-2022 report, the ACSI polled 23,605 U.S. telecom consumers from April 2021 to March 2022. U-verse, which is now managed by the DirecTV unit spun off to private equity last year, scored a 73 on ACSI's 0-100 index, down 1 point from the 2021 survey. 

Also read: How Screwed Up Is the U.S. Pay TV Biz? U-verse TV, Which AT&T Doesn’t Even Sell Anymore, Ranks No. 1 in Customer Satisfaction

U-verse has actually topped the pay TV portion of the ASCI telecom survey since 2017, followed closely by the last different provider to lead the list, Verizon Fios, which has perennially topped the survey’s ISP section, as well. 

Notably, T-Mobile — which just entered the ISP business last year with the introduction of its 5G fixed wireless service — ranks second on the ISP list, and first on an ACSI ranking of in-home Wi-Fi providers. 

Comcast’s Xfinity and Charter's Spectrum platforms, the Nos. 1 and 2 providers of high-speed internet services in America, rank behind all three telcos — Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile — on both the ISP and in-home Wi-Fi lists. 

The ACSI also ranks streaming providers, too, but its ranker is a little whack, placing a digital store (the Microsoft Store) atop a list that also includes SVOD providers like Disney Plus and Netflix. Seems pretty apples and oranges to us. ■

So the U.S. pay TV business, which is currently in free fall, is sunsetting its most well-received product? If not for the involvement of AT&T, that would not make sense. 

Notably, AT&T’s other linear pay TV service, satellite TV platform DirecTV, saw its score improve by 3% and placed No. 3 in ASCI’s pay TV services ranking with a 66 score, eight points lower than U-verse. 

U-Verse also ranked No. 1 in terms of its VOD component, and AT&T was also named the top customer satisfaction generator for both wireline internet and landline telephone services. 

In February, AT&T reached an agreement with private equity firm TPG Capital to spin off its entire U.S. subscription video unit, which includes U-verse TV, DirecTV and the newer IP-based AT&T TV. These three services, which AT&T combines under the heading “premium TV” on its balance sheets, lost a combined 620,000 subscribers in the first quarter … some of them presumably satisfied.

ASCI didn’t include AT&T TV in its rankings. However, in ASCI's ranking of streaming video services—which Next TV sibling pub Broadcasting & Cable wrote about Tuesday morning— placed AT&T TV Now near the bottom. Skinny bundled streaming service AT&T TV Now operated on the same technology platform as AT&T TV and was recently subsumed by AT&T TV. 

Also notable: Ranking No. 1 in customer satisfaction for U.S. linear pay TV services was Fios TV, a platform Verizon has seemingly given up on amid its current fixation with 5G buildout. 

The ACSI Telecommunications Study 2020-2021 is based on interviews with 37,907 customers, chosen at random and contacted via email between April 1, 2020, and March 29, 2021.

The attrition represents an acceleration from the 778,000 premium video customers AT&T lost in the second quarter of 2019. It lost 879,000 customers in the first quarter. 

AT&T announced across-the-tiers price increases for AT&T TV and DirecTV earlier this month. It is no longer selling U-Verse TV. 

The company also reported another 68,000 lost subscribers for its virtual pay TV service, AT&T TV Now, with its base whittled to just 720,000 customers as of the end of June. 

AT&T’s revenue from pay TV video was down 13.2% to $7 billion in the second quarter. The company attributed it to the subscriber declines, as well as the impact of COVID-19 on advertising, commercial revenue and “certain fees.”

Also read: AT&T TV: Everything You Need to Know About the Streaming Version of AT&T’s Premium Pay TV Service

Last year, ahead of the March national rollout of AT&T TV, company executives expressed hope that the new IP-based service would stem the steady customer losses being experienced by decaying satellite TV brand DirecTV, as well as U-verse, a pay TV product AT&T no longer sells to new customers. 

While AT&T TV now certainly hasn’t reversed the company’s linear pay TV fortunes, AT&T does credit it for sales of bundled fiber broadband services—AT&T announced the addition of 225,000 fiber-based high-speed internet customers in Q2. 

“Standalone WatchTV is no longer available for new sign ups or to re-subscribe,” AT&T says on its WatchTV landing page. “Existing WatchTV customers who subscribe to the app or have a qualifying AT&T Unlimited plan can continue to use the service. Customers on a qualifying AT&T Unlimited plan with the WatchTV benefit can create an account here."

AT&T announced late last year that it would no longer be giving the service away free to AT&T unlimited wireless customers. And with AT&T now focused on its HBO Max direct-to-consumer streaming service and its AT&T TV IP-based pay TV platform, it had been expected for months that AT&T WatchTV would go the way of other AT&T video products, including pay TV platform U-verse. 

Also read: AT&T Stops Selling U-verse TV

Indeed, among the head-spinning whirlwind that has been AT&T’s video strategy recently—it was less than four years ago when now-marginalized virtual MVPD DirecTV Now was launched as the centerpiece platform—there seem to be a lot of comings and goings. 

WatchTV offers a selection of more than 30 basic cable channels, including A&E AMC, BBC America, Cartoon Network, CNN, Comedy Central, Discovery, Food Network, Hallmark Channel, History, Lifetime, MTV, Nickelodeon, OWN, TNT and TBS.

For those who don’t subscribe to an AT&T unlimited wireless plan, the service has been priced at $15 a month. 

Notably, the service was supported not only by iOS and Android mobile devices, and Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Google Chromecast, but AT&T never established app support for Roku. 

From the launch of AT&T WatchTV back in 2018, some pundits have suspected the service was merely a “PR stunt,” a salve used to alleviate regulator concerns that AT&T’s $85 billion takeover of Time Warner Cable two years ago wouldn’t harm cord-cutting consumers. 

In fact, AT&T Watch was first announced in April 2018 by Stephenson from a federal court witness stand, where he was testifying that the merger wouldn’t harm innovation of the streaming video business. 

AT&T is no longer marketing U-verse to new customers. And it reported 897,000 lost pay TV subscribers between DirecTV and U-verse in the first quarter (it didn’t break out customer metrics between the two fast deteriorating platforms). AT&T is now throwing its marketing muscle behind its new IP-based linear pay TV platform, AT&T TV, as well as new kitchen-sink SVOD service HBO Max.

Also read: AT&T Stops Selling U-verse TV

Still, on the ASCI’s 0-100 point scale, U-verse actually led major U.S. pay TV providers for a second straight year, ticking up one point to a 70 score. That tied perennial rankings leader Verizon’s Fios, which shed another 84,000 customers in Q1, but saw its ASCI score tick up two points.

Verizon is now marketing third-party OTT video services, including YouTube TV and Disney Plus, to push its Fios wireline internet product. 

Also read: Verizon’s Video Strategy: Everything You Need to Know About the Wireless Giant’s Tortured TV History

Fios (up three points to a 73 score) and U-verse (68) were also the highest scoring wireline broadband services in the latest ASCI telecom report. And they also led in more drilled down rankings including in-home Wi-Fi and VOD services.

Notably, in the pay TV rankings, it’s was the fastest declining services that scored best in customer satisfaction, according to ASCI. Dish Network, which lost another 132,000 customers in the first quarter, ranked third with a 65 score (down two points), followed by the fast falling DirecTV (down two points to 64). 

Also notable: The two satellite TV services were the only pay TV platforms to see their scores decline. Comcast’s Xfinity service saw a six-point, 11% jump to a 63 score, showing the biggest improvement. 

Evaluating specific pay TV metrics, such as picture quality, customer service and mobile app performance, ASCI scores were roughly flat with last year for U.S. pay TV operators. 

In addition to bundled telecom services, the ASCI rankings also include video streaming services. This year’s rankings were led by a new entry, Disney Plus, which scored an 80 out of the gate, edging Netflix, which declined one point to a 78 score.

The ranking’s other new entry, Apple TV Plus, finished in the middle of the pack with a 74 score. (HBO Max is too new to be ranked.)

The biggest decliners were virtual MVPDs Sling TV, which dropped three points to finish near the bottom of the rankings with a 71 score, and AT&T TV Now, which also dropped three points to a 72.

Services were ranking on factors such as mobile app quality, library depth and call center satisfaction. 

They’re not in talks, but the thought is that they could be pushed in that direction with the right Wall Street winds of rumor and speculation. And so far, the Street is indulging the fantasy.

Nearly two decades after the Justice Department scuttled the last earnest attempts to merge the two satellite TV operations, much has changed, with the two platforms losing nearly 2.4 million customers combined last year amid amassing OTT competition. UBS analyst John Hodulik predicted they’d lose another 2.8 million subscribers this year.

“It is against this highly competitive backdrop that we now believe regulators could potentially allow for the combination of satellite/DBS players due to its antiquated technology, structural challenges (inability to bundle), as well as the emergence of broadband-delivered video— which is becoming the predominant form of video consumption of late,” wrote JPMorgan analyst Philip Cusick.

For many, the lens for the deal will focus primarily on the accretive bottom-line possibilities for AT&T, which seems to be focusing its video efforts on a new WarnerMedia subscription streaming platform. Indeed, AT&T much more enamored with branding possibilities of HBO and other assets acquired in the Time Warner Inc. purchase.

AT&T, which paid $67.1 billion for DirecTV in 2015, before super-sizing its debt load with its $81 billion purchase of Time Warner Inc. three years later, could pay down that debt by offloading a fast-eroding, no longer sexy satellite TV platform it no longer needs.

With $187 billion of debt, and projected EBITDA of $60 million, AT&T would probably like to get back to the 2.5 net leverage ratio it had before the Time Warner acquisition.

But what about the resulting merged asset, which would combine for 28.3 million U.S. satellite TV customers?

Cusick doesn’t seem too excited about this possibility. “As rural broadband buildout using copper, fiber, and wireless moves along, supported by government funding, the natural satellite TV customer base shrinks every year and eventually will struggle to justify two, or possibly even one constellation of dedicated [direct broadcast satellites],” he wrote.

The analyst also said that AT&T’s other pay TV assets, virtual MVPD DirecTV Now and telco platform U-verse, would suffer mightily from the loss of negotiating power with programmers.

Cusick suggests combining U-verse and DirecTV Now into a deal in which Dish is a majority 51% owner.

By our count, using subscriber metrics disclosed at the end of the third quarter: AT&T’s 18.7 million U.S. DirecTV satellite customers, 3.7 million U-verse subscribers and 1.5 million DirecTV Now streamers would combine with Dish’s 9.6 million satellite TV and 2.4 million Sling TV customers. The resulting pay TV powerhouse would reach nearly 36 million customers in the U.S., giving it far and away more scale than any other U.S. pay TV supplier.

Cusick estimates that the combined entity could reach a total of about $2 billion in annual cost savings, largely from an estimated $825 million reduction in programming expenses.

With customers no longer hopping between DirecTV and Dish, the analysts factors in savings of another $600 million annually in subscriber acquisition costs.

Further, he said annual operating expenses could fall another $200 million as redundant satellite and equipment ages out of the system.

Notably, Cusick didn’t discuss the possibilities of the virtual platforms, which both AT&T and Dish have been moving to prioritize in their respective pay TV customer mixes. The combined company would have nearly 4 million vMVPD customers—by far the most scale in the virtual pay TV business. This could conceivable give the merged company a winning hand in the ultra-competitive vMVPD race.

What if this combined company could transition the bundle to an all-IP universe over the next several years, rendered profitable by efficient, consumer-friendly delivery technology, advanced advertising and powerful scale?

Of course, for now, it remains fun speculation.

“To be clear, we do not believe the companies are in discussions today, and see both regulatory and personality issues that would have to be overcome to get to a deal,” Cusick wrote.

The channel said it is available in about 42 million homes and has reached deals for HD carriage with DirecTV, CenturyLink,Verizon’s Fios and other distributors. DirecTV upgraded the channel to high definition from standard definition this month. 

Pursuit will be available to all U-verse TV HD customers beginning in May, or sooner, the company said in a statement.  

“Adding Pursuit HD to AT&T U-verse coupled with DirecTV, Fios by Verizon and Prism by CenturyLink positions Pursuit Channel as a new category leader in providing outdoor content in full 1080i, and greatly establishes Pursuit with the largest footprint when you bring Dish into the conversation,” Pursuit Channel CEO Rusty Faulk said in a release. “Our independent television producers, some of whom have been with us since the inception of the network nine years ago, deserve all the credit for positioning this broadcasting business as the best buy in outdoor television.” 

The U-verse TV name will remain, although the company has been transitioning its telco TV customers to its DirecTV satellite TV service for months. The telco is expected to eventually use the freed-up bandwidth to offer faster broadband speeds.

AT&T confirmed a Monday report by DSLReports that the U-Verse name was being phased out. The company said there are no plans to change the names of its TV products at this time. But in 2015, shortly after the company closed its $48.5 billion purchase of DirecTV it said in an internal company memo that it planned to transition all of its TV product names under AT&T Entertainment once it established its “next generation TV platform.”   The company did not elaborate.

AT&T began informing customers of the change to the Internet and telephone products at the bottom of their monthly bills beginning last week.

“To make it simpler for our customers U-verse High Speed Internet and U-verse Voice services have new names: AT&T Internet and AT&T Phone,” AT&T said in the bill page message. “AT&T Internet product names will now align with our Internet speed tiers. Our voice plan names will remain the same.”

AT&T chief financial officer John Stephens said after two consecutive quarters of negative video customer growth, the telecom company should finish the year in the black, fueled in part by subscriber gains from its DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket out-of-market football package.

At the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Media, Communications and Entertainment conference Wednesday, Stephens said that after second quarter losses of about 49,000 video customers, AT&T was on a path toward positive growth.

AT&T has two video services – the wireline U-verse TV and the satellite delivered DirecTV. Over the past two quarters AT&T has been migrating U-verse customers to its DirecTV platform. While DirecTV has had robust growth over the quarterly periods – it added 328,000 and 342,000 net new subscribers in the first and second quarters respectively – it hasn’t been enough to fully offset heavy losses at U-verse.

At the conference, Stephens said AT&T expected its subscriber growth to be skewed more toward the second half of the year, when Sunday Ticket is in full swing. But he said that isn’t the only factor in video growth.

“[I]t's because of the NFL [Sunday] Ticket coming out, it's because we are going to get better, our installation guys are going to get better with single truck rolls, it is because our sales teams and our call centers and our customer care centers were all going to get better more efficient, more used to cross selling the products because many of the folks in those organizations and the systems in those organizations were built to cross sell both video and broadband,” Stephens said. “So we are continuing to work on that, we haven't changed that goal and that guidance and we continue to work really hard to achieve it.”

Mediacom Communications has reached a multi-year carriage agreement with Univision Communications, including retransmission consent for the Spanish language broadcaster’s TV stations and its cable networks UniMás, Galavision and well-known movie director Robert Rodriguez’ El Rey Network.

“During their 20-year legacy, Mediacom has always valued diverse voices in media and respected Univision’s role in providing that voice to our communities,” said Univision chief commercial officer and president of content distribution Tonia O’Connor in a statement. “We are proud to once again expand our partnership with Mediacom to achieve our mutual goal of giving Hispanic America the programming they love. We are also thrilled that Mediacom is launching El Rey Network, which unites culturally diverse generations through powerhouse programming.”

The agreement comes on the heels of Mediacom’s announcement that it will spend $1 billion over the next three years to upgrade its broadband network to speeds of up to 1 Gigabit per second.

This is the second carriage deal Univision has reached in about one week. On March 14 it announced a multi-year deal with Atlantic Broadband.  The content provider is still in negotiations with AT&T’s U-Verse over an expired carriage agreement, although the broadcaster has granted several extensions to keep it programming available to the distributor while it continues talks.  

“Mediacom strives to offer culturally rich and diverse programming to our customers,” said Mediacom executive vice president of programming and human resources Italia Commisso Weinand, in a statement. “We are pleased to announce the continuation of our long-standing partnership with Univision.”

Atlantic Broadband said it has reached a carriage deal with Spanish language programmer Univision.

According to Atlantic Broadband, the multi-year, multi-platform agreement includes Univision’s broadcast and cable networks Univision, UniMás and Galavisión. Atlantic Broadband will add El Rey Network in select markets by the end of the year. The new agreement also includes on demand and online rights, expected to roll out later this year.

“For twelve years Atlantic Broadband has proudly carried Univision, uninterrupted. And, with this latest contract renewal, we look forward to continuing to work closely with Univision for years to come to ensure our customers have access to the best Spanish-language content available,” said Atlantic Broadband’s Senior Vice President and General Manager, Dave Keefe in a statement. “We know how much Univision means to our customers here in Miami, and we are committed to providing new and existing customers with Univision’s terrific programming.”

Headquartered in Quincy, Mass., Atlantic Broadband is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Canadian operator Cogeco Communications and has about 246,000 video customers in five operating regions: western Pennsylvania, Miami Beach, Maryland/Delaware, Aiken, S.C. and eastern Connecticut. The deal comes as Univision recently extended carriage negotiations with AT&T U-verse.

"Atlantic Broadband has been a true partner for over a decade, working hand in hand with Univision to ensure that one of the largest Hispanic communities in America has access to world class content on multiple platforms. As a business that puts our core customers first, Univision appreciates Atlantic Broadband's commitment to this relationship. We look forward to working together for years to come," said Univision SVP, Content Distribution Friday Abernethy in a statement.

Cable operators made the case for the bundle in the third quarter.

In reporting their best basic-video subscriber performance in nearly a decade, U.S. MSOs cast some serious doubt on the actual impact of cord-cutters — young consumers who’ve dropped their pay TV subscription for a broadband connection — and of online content.

Comcast started things off, reporting a Q3 loss of 48,000 video customers, nearly half of what it shed in the same period last year and its best Q3 performance in nine years. Up next was Time Warner Cable, which reported a loss of 7,000 basic-video customers in the period (its best Q3 since 2006); and Charter Communications, which tallied a gain of 12,000 basic-video customers for its first positive growth since Q4 2014.

Not all cable operators have reported their third-quarter numbers yet — Cablevision Systems is scheduled to release results Nov. 3, with other smaller operators following suit in the coming weeks. But Comcast, TWC and Charter represent about 70% of all U.S. cable-TV homes.

So far, the numbers are in sharp contrast to the second quarter, when sector-wide declines sent stocks into a tailspin over fears that cord-cutters were taking a bigger bite out of pay TV companies than originally expected. While there are still some question marks left, cable has more than held its own.

Collectively, the three largest cable operators shed 43,000 basic-video customers in the third quarter, about one-third of the 121,000 they lost in the second quarter.

“Clearly, 2Q ’15 was not a negative inflection point for the industry,” Evercore ISI Group media analysts Vijay Jayant and David Joyce wrote in a research note.

MoffettNathanson principal and senior analyst Craig Moffett went further out on a limb: “It’s time to change the narrative about cord-cutting.”

It’s not that analysts believe cord-cutting has gone away, just that it is taking customers from sources other than cable. And Moffett said he believes cable’s video resurgence is due to a combination of its better content offerings and its longstanding broadband dominance — high-speed Internet additions at the three top cable operators were all ahead of the prior year, while AT&T lost 100,000 U-verse Internet customers, and Verizon Communications’s FiOS Internet additions were down.

“Cable’s two-way architecture and Comcast’s best-in-class user interface and VOD libraries are emerging as genuine sources of competitive advantage,” Moffett wrote in a research note.

Charter CEO Tom Rutledge had a simpler answer. “Our competitors continue to aggressively promote products at low price points,” he said on Charter’s Q3 earnings call. “We think, fundamentally, we have better products than they do.”

So far, cable has resisted playing the price-cutting game. And though promotions like the $90 triple play have brought in customers, operators are careful to lessen the shock once those promotions expire.

On TWC’s earnings call, chief operating officer Dinni Jain said the company made a concerted effort not to repeat past mistakes. Promotional customers are now told up front that prices will rise after the 12-month promo period expires, and those increases are now about $20 per month, compared to the muchstiffer hikes of the past.

“I think a combination of that transparency on the front end coupled with really working hard to nail the customer experience through the life of that first 12 months will give us a much better churn profile,” Jain said.

AT&T continued to add channels to it lineup Wednesday (July 22), reaching a carriage deal with Hallmark Channel for high-definition distribution, the telco said Wednesday.

The deal will add Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries to AT&T U-Verse TV beginning tomorrow (July 23), said company officials. 

Hallmark Channel will be on channels 365 and 1365 in high-definition in the U-family and U200 and above packages, while Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will be on Channels 366 and 1366 in HD in the U-family and U300 and above packages.

The channels will also be on the U-verse App for tablets and smartphones and on Uverse.com, according to AT&T.

AT&T was the last of the major distributors not to carry Hallmark, which is in front of 85 million subscribers, said network officials.

The Hallmark channels are the second cable network deal announced by AT& in as many days following yesterday's deal to carry music-themed network Revolt. 

 “This agreement is a winning deal for AT&T U-verse customers,” said Bill Abbott, president & CEO, Crown Media Family Networks in a statement. “They now have access to our two distinct channels and some of the best, most compelling family entertainment on television. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with AT&T.”

Added Eric Boyer, senior vice president, AT&T U-verse: “We are thrilled to work with Crown Media to bring Hallmark to our U-verse TV customers. Our customers will be able to watch the Hallmark programming they love on U-verse TV, as well as on their mobile devices with our U-verse App.”

AT&T U-verse has reached a carriage deal with music channel Revolt, the company said Tuesday (July 21).

The network, founded by hip hop entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs and launched in 2013 as one of four new minority-owned networks supported by Comcast as part of the Federal Communications Commission’s conditions for its 2010 acquisition of NBCUniversal, will be available to AT&T U-Verse subscribers as early as July 27, company officials said.

“AT&T is excited to bring Revolt programming to our customers,” said Mel Coker, chief marketing officer, AT&T Home Solutions. “Revolt is a great fit as we strive to bring our customers the content they want, when and where they want it.”

Added Combs: “This is a historical day for Revolt. With a major player like AT&T, more people will be able to access the hottest music and original content on every screen and device. This agreement shows the world that Revolt is a force in the media industry. “

The agreement comes as AT&T recently came under fire from hip hop rapper/producer Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson, who called the company “racist” in several tweets over the weekend. AT&T is in carriage negotiations with Starz, which carries Jackson starrer Power, which draws a predominantly African American audience.

AT&T said it has added 41 more live channels to its authenticated U-verse App, while also extending support to the Samsung Gear S smartwatch.

The telco, which ended 2014 with nearly 6 million U-verse TV subs, said the latest additions expand the TV Everywhere app’s offering to 236 live channels that are accessible in the home, and 173 that are accessible out-of-home.

U-verse subs who pair the app with the 4G-connected Samsung Gear S can use it to change TV channels, access the U-verse TV guide, search for shows, manage their DVR and receive programming notifications.

New channels available to watch via the U-verse App both inside the home and on the go are:

-Al Jazeera America

-BET

-BET Gospel

-Boomerang

-Cartoon Network

-CMT

-CMT Pure Country

-Centric

-Comedy Central

-CSPAN

-CSPAN2

-CSPAN3

-Fox Sports 1

-Fox Sports 2

-Galavision

-EVINE (ShopHQ)

-HRTV

-LOGO

-MTV

-MTV 2

-MTV Hits

-MTV Jams

-mtvU

-MTV Tr3s

-Nickelodeon

-Nick2

-Nicktoons

-Nick Jr

-NUVOtv (rebranding as  Fuse in Q4)

-Palladia

-PXTV

-RFD TV

-Spike TV

-TeenNick

-TV Land

-Univision

-UniMás

-VH1

-VH1 Classic

-VH1 Soul

-World Fishing Network

AT&T U-verse and Disney said Tuesday (April 21) they are launching a new subscription video-on-demand service adapted from the media company's Disney Story Central platform.

Disney Story Central is a website and app providing narrated Disney book titles that kids (and parents) can read along with.

The new $8 SVOD service brings the read-along platform to TV screens for the first time, the companies said. New titles will be added every few months.

"We are always looking for new and innovative ways for our consumers to enjoy Disney storytelling," said Andrew Sugerman, executive vice president, Disney Publishing Worldwide. "Expanding the Disney Story Central platform onto AT&T U-verse TV is another way to connect."

U-verse already carried Disney Channel, Disney Junior and Disney XD live and on-demand.

"We're excited to bring customers and their families interactive experiences that foster creativity and imagination," said Mel Coker, chief marketing officer, AT&T Home Solutions.

The Silicon Valley-based market research firm also selected U-verse for its Competitive Strategy and Innovation Leadership of the Year Award for Broadband, citing AT&T's "aggressive pursuit of higher bandwidth access" with its AT&T GigaPower initiative.

This marks the third time since 2009 that Frost & Sullivan has selected U-verse as Multichannel Video's top provider.

The company is offering triple-play bundles in Panama City starting at $79 for the first 24 months, according to the telco's localized marketing website; TV and Internet bundles start at $49 a month for the first 12 months. The initial pricing for the triple- and double-play packages is $10 less per month than the equivalent packages in the neighboring seaside hamlet and other locations in the state.

Internet-only service is available starting at $29.95 a month, while TV-only service starts at a flat $29 per month; each of those deals is good for the first 12 months.

AT&T U-verse has been actively promoting its authenticated multiscreen platform and said it has generated some positive results from those efforts.

Total viewing minutes on TVE apps were up 30% in the first half of 2014, while the total number of sessions (the times customers accessed AT&T’s apps) has jumped 60% during the same time frame.

“We’re seeing really good growth,” GW Shaw, AT&T’s vice president of U-verse and video product marketing, said, attributing that to the telco’s efforts to educate consumers about the app online, during customer-service calls and even through snail mail.

“Consumers are becoming more savvy as they search for content,” Shaw said. “They’re finding it on our site and in our applications.”

A study conducted last October also shed light on Uverse customer viewing habits, with 52% of respondents saying they watch TV content on mobile devices, and 36% saying their children frequently watch video on mobile screens; the latter is about even with the 34% who said they watch on a traditional TV.

Those trends are fueling AT&T’s decision to focus its TVE efforts on Web browsers and iOS- and Android-powered tablets and phones, and to thus far eschew support on TV-connected platforms such as the Google Chromecast, Roku, the Amazon Fire TV box, or the new Xbox One or PlayStation 4.

For now, AT&T doesn’t add much value there because the experience and the amount of content offered would not be on par with what it offers on its own IP-connected boxes. AT&T U-verse used to offer its IPTV service on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 consoles, but dropped support at the end of 2013, citing “low customer demand” for it.

“You need to take a step back and think through, what is the best experience for the consumer?” Shaw said. “If the customer already has a U-verse set-top box, then what additional benefit do we deliver to that customer by putting it on a gaming device?”

But AT&T’s absence on those TV-connected platforms will likely be temporary, as “it’s absolutely something we can do there, and it’s something that we’re going to do there,” Shaw said, noting that U-verse’s all-IP platform means it has the infrastructure in place to support TVE on connected TV retail platforms.

“We’re working through what the specific experience looks like,” he said. “We’re already delivering the most advanced service that we can to every set-top box in every single home.”

Heading into 2015, Shaw said, AT&T’s game plan is to expand the amount of content it offers on its TVE platform and back it with recommendation and personalization features that also aim to boost usage and to help viewers navigate large libraries (U-verse TV already uses Jinni’s platform to power a mood-based video discovery engine for its set-top box platform). Today, the AT&T TVE app supports about 200 live TV channels in the home and provides access to roughly 100 channels to customers when they are on the go.

“My hope is that we start to get to a place where we have similar rights that work across all of the platforms and work no matter where the customer is,” Shaw said.

Shaw also acknowledged that AT&T is keeping a close eye on 4K/Ultra HD, which was again a huge focus at last week’s International CES.

“4K has the opportunity to be really big,” he said. “I think we’ll see 4K start to expand more on the VOD offerings, and then live TV will be a follower.”

DirecTV, Comcast and Dish Network are the only U.S.-based pay TV providers to launch or announce 4K service plans. AT&T hasn’t pinpointed a launch timeframe for an Ultra HD product, but 4K “is absolutely something we are looking at, something we’re excited about,” Shaw said. “Our 100% IP platform puts us in a really good place for 4K.”

Will CSN Houston’s Friday night coverage of the Houston Rockets-Dallas Mavericks NBA preseason game be the embattled regional sports network’s last live telecast?

Perhaps.

Closing arguments for the RSN’s year-long Chapter 11 bankruptcy case is set for Tuesday, Oct. 28, at which point Judge Marvin Isgur will be asked to approve a reorganization plan that sells CSN, which is owned by the Rockets, MLB’s Houston Astros and Comcast’s NBC Sports Group to DirecTV and AT&T U-verse. In turn, the DBS provider and the telco, which are awaiting federal approval of their proposed merger, would relaunch the service under the Roots Sports Houston banner with carriage from the owners and Comcast in the Houston DMA and beyond.

After hearing testimony from the parties on Wednesday Oct. 22 – the same day that CSN Houston personnel delivered their final live studio and news shows, as 96 of the service’s 141 employees will lose their jobs under the plan -- Isgur set next Tuesday for closing arguments.

The teams and DirecTV/AT&T hope the plan will be approved that day. That means the Rockets ‘ game against Utah on Oct. 29 would air on the new channel. (The team starts its season on Oct. 28 in Los Angeles against the Lakers with the contest airing nationally on TNT.)

However, Comcast opposes the plan for a number of reasons, and is still looking to reclaim some compensation for the $100 million loan it provided to the RSN for start-up costs, the studio build-out and early rights fee allotments; fair value for NBC Sports' 22% stake in the network that was valued at $700 million in 2010 and would be sold for just $5,000 to DirecTV/AT&T; and exculpation from creditors upon the transfer of the network.

Comcast/NBC Sports could also file an appeal that would further delay matters. If that were the case, it’s unclear whether other Rockets regional contests – their home opener versus the Boston Celtics is scheduled for Nov. 1 – would continue to air on CSN Houston. Bankruptcy protocol usually mandates that business/operations continue until case resolution. In the interim, CSN Houston is currently airing a mix of infomercials and other filler fare.

Under Isgur’s plan, the teams would not only lose their equity in the succeeding service, but abandon their claims to some $100 million in rights fees owed by CSN Houston.

Comcast/NBC Sports declined to comment.  DirecTV and AT&T declined to comment.

Launched in October 2012 and seeking a monthly subscriber fee in the $3.40 neighborhood, CSN Houston failed to gain distribution traction beyond Comcast and a few smaller providers in the Houston DMA, much less with DirecTV, AT&T U-verse, Time Warner Cable, Suddenlink, Charter and Verizon, among others, in its five-state TV territory that also stretches to Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and New Mexico.

As such, the RSN never generated nearly enough affiliate revenues to pay the teams their rights fees and meet its bills.

The busy affiliate times continue for Suddenlink Communications as the nation’s seventh-largest cable operator has inked a carriage pact with RLTV.

Under the deal, financial terms of which were not disclosed, the service targeting the 50+demographic will be available to all of Suddenlink’s 1.4 million video subscribers.

The Suddenlink agreement follows affiliate accords RLTV, which is minority-owned by Comcast, reached earlier this year with telcos AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS, through which it upgraded its positioning.

"Suddenlink's addition of RLTV is a key step in our effort to bring relevant and valuable content and information to the underserved and fast-growing 50+ demo.  We are grateful for their support and belief in our audience and are committed to making RLTV a valuable part of the Suddenlink multi-platform offering," said Betsy Brightman, RLTV vice president of affiliate sales and distribution.

 "We're pleased to reach an agreement with RLTV," said Kathy Payne, Suddenlink senior vice president and chief programming officer. "RLTV's efforts to bring targeted programming to an audience that represents a significant segment of our country's population is a great addition to our TV lineups."

The RLTV announcement comes on the heels of Suddenlink’s deal for a renewal for CBS stations and CBS Sports Network, as well as the launch of Smithsonian Channel, which is partly owned by the programmer’s premium service, Showtime Networks Inc.

Meanwhile, Suddenlink is evidently going down to the wire with Viacom, whose carriage contract with the MSO expires a minute before midnight on Wednesday.