u-verse

[itvt] has just published the latest edition of Rick Howe's regular column, "The iTV Doctor Is In!" This week, GW Shaw, executive director of AT&T U-verse marketing, discusses AT&T U-verse TV's interactive TV apps strategy, and how that strategy has been shaped by what it has learned from its customers since launching its first ITV apps back in 2006.

AT&T has launched an interactive application, called Film Awards Interactive, for the iPhone/iPod touch and for its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV platform, U-verse TV. According to AT&T, among other things, the free app lets consumers use their remote control or their iPhone/iPod touch screen to:

Due to the volume of news generated by last week's Consumer Electronics Show, and because the [itvt] editorial team is busy working on The TV of Tomorrow Show (March 3rd-4th in San Francisco), we are covering a number of stories in this issue in summary form:

Verizon announced Wednesday that it has launched an NBA League Pass interactive TV widget on its FiOS TV service. According to the company, the free widget allows viewers to order NBA League Pass, an NBA subscription package that provides up to 40 out-of-market live NBA games per week, via their remote control; and also provides them with instant access to headline news, player reports, game-time alerts and more.

Alcatel-Lucent announced Tuesday that US incumbent telco, AT&T, has extended the contract under which Alcatel-Lucent provides end-to-end multivendor network integration for AT&T's U-verse triple-play offering. U-verse is comprised of U-verse TV, a Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV service; U-verse High Speed Internet; and U-verse Voice--all of which are delivered over AT&T's IP network using Alcatel-Lucent's Triple Play Service Delivery Architecture (TPSDA). According to AT&T, the U-verse offering is now available in 93 markets in 19 states, and its U-verse TV component now has over 1.3 million customers.

US incumbent telco, AT&T, announced last week that its Microsoft Mediaroom-powered IPTV service, U-verse TV, had enjoyed a record first quarter. According to the company, the service attracted a record 284,000 net new subscribers during the quarter, bringing its total subscriber base to over 1.3 million. The service is now available in 93 markets in 19 states.

Microsoft contacted [itvt] last week to let us know that MTS Allstream, a wholly owned subsidiary of Canadian telco, Manitoba Telecom Services, has launched an HDTV service in Winnipeg, based on the Microsoft Mediaroom IPTV platform and various technologies from Mediaroom reseller and systems-integration partner, Alcatel-Lucent. According to Microsoft, the new service offers 30 HDTV channels (with more to be rolled out later this year), DVR service, and an EPG with picture-in-picture capability; and is slated to roll out additional advanced services later this year. It is currently available in limited areas of Winnipeg.

--Launches ITV Services in More Markets

--Launches Free Olympics VOD Service

--Signs VOD Deal with Rotten Tomatoes

US incumbent telco, AT&T, has generated a fair amount of interactive
TV- and VOD-related news over the past few weeks: