AT&T's U-Verse TV Service Adds Record Subscribers In First Quarter
This story was written by Dianne See Morrison.
AT&T's U-Verse TV service racked up a record 284,000 net subscribers in the first quarter, to give the telecoms company's IP TV service a total base of over 1.3 million users. It also helped grow the number of net adds to AT&T (NYSE: T) Advanced TV services which included bundled and satellite TV servicesto more than 3.5 million. Along with increased broadband penetration, the growth in U-Verse TV helped drive up IP consumer data profits 23 percent compared to the earlier year. Though the figures were announced in yesterday's earnings, AT&T was happy enough with the results to break it out into a separate announcement.
The surge in subscribers seems to have been boosted by AT&T's introduction of its DVR service, that allows users to record TV programs to view when they want. AT&T said the record subscribers came in the first full quarter that its Total Home DVR service was available in all of its U-verse TV markets. The DVR service is usually free with most U-Verse packages.
AT&T also reported that it was seeing more traction through the bundling of its U-Verse services. It reported that almost half of its U-verse TV subscribers take one of the two largest video packages, while nearly all of them (90 percent) bundle it with its high-speed internet service. Overall, more than 75 percent of U-verse TV customers have a triple- or quad-play.
U-verse TV is now available in 93 markets across 19 states.
By Dianne See Morrison