U-verse TV Subs Unchanged in 4Q

AT&T Thursday reported having 3,000 subscribers for its U-verse TV service as of Dec. 31 -- unchanged from the number it reported the previous quarter.

The "vast majority" of the U-verse TV subscribers are still in the initial San Antonio market, AT&T spokesman Brad Mays said. Late in the fourth quarter, AT&T began offering the Internet-protocol-TV service in an additional 10 markets, including areas of Houston, San Francisco, Indianapolis and Hartford, Conn.

"As planned, we've taken a measured approach to our new deployments, making the service available in limited areas within each market," Mays said.

AT&T said it is still planning for U-verse TV to pass about 8 million living units by the end of 2007 and 19 million by the end of 2008. Those targets don't include areas in BellSouth's territories where AT&T is planning to offer IPTV service.

Meanwhile, AT&T in the fourth quarter added 49,000 Dish Network direct-broadcast satellite subscribers, provided through a deal with EchoStar Communications. AT&T's total number of Dish subscribers at the end of 2006 was 632,000.