AT&T continues to improve their channel lineup by signing contracts with an ever-expanding list of networks. Today they have announced a deal with Bloomberg Television to deliver their programming as part of AT&T's U-verse service.

"AT&T U-verse TV has content from some of today's most popular television networks in order to deliver a truly revolutionary entertainment experience centered around the consumer," said Dan York, head of programming, AT&T Operations Inc. "AT&T is providing a robust and compelling television service that will now also include quality financial and business news programming from Bloomberg."

Today's announcement follows previous announcements of similar deals with MTV, BET, TV One, Discovery Networks, and the NFL Network.

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Here is a brief video explanation of the various parts of a VRAD, the box used to combine AT&T's fiber and copper services and deliver them to the home. If you have seen these things around and wondered what they do, or how they do it, this is the video you have been waiting to see. It is a pretty short clip, but is definitely the best look we have had inside a VRAD up to this point.

Thanks to UverseUsers member uverse for the link. Source

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Here is another quick video highlighting one of the little-known features of AT&T's VRAD boxes. Apparently, they are graffiti-resitant. It is in the little details like this that AT&T is getting things right. Nobody wants a box in their neighborhood covered with graffiti. Luckily, graffiti easily wipes off of the VRADs and they come out looking like new.

If for no other reason, this video is worth watching just to see the last two seconds. I mean, that guy is REALLY having a good time cleaning off that VRAD.

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Mark Gimein of BusinessWeek posted an article a few days ago entitled "The Phone Companies Still Don't Get It". We debated about whether or not to post it here on UverseUsers. Ultimately, we decided not to cover the story at that time because other than a bunch of whining, he didn't really have much to say. So, if it wasn't for this much more intriguing article from Ars Technica, you probably wouldn't have heard about it from us at all.

Mark's biggest gripe seems to be that when he came to San Antonio last Spring to see a demo of AT&T's U-verse, they took him to [gasp] the home of the architect of Project Lightspeed! Now, why this is such a big deal, I don't know. I mean, U-verse was still in field-trial modes in the Spring, so there weren't many places you could catch a demo of the new technology. In the end, Mark uses this rather anecdotal evidence to suggest that AT&T doesn't know how to innovate.

The good news is that Jon Hannibal Stokes over at Ars Technica has fired back with an essay of his own. He suggests that while AT&T and other telcos continue to innovate, in todays society, research must bear fruit. There is no longer room for the "blue sky" research for research's sake that was prevalent in the mega-companies during the Cold-War era.

If you are looking for a good read, go quickly browse Marks' column, and then check out the response from Ars Technica. I personally think U-verse is one of the biggest innovations to hit the entertainment industry since the iPod. Sure, on the surface it is "just TV", but when you consider the possibilities that arise because of this new technology, it can be a little mind-boggling.

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AT&T launched their long-awaited Homezone service today in San Antonio, Texas and Ohio. The service combines AT&T | DISH Network Digital Satellite TV with AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet to provide a world of multimedia features including digital video recording, a video rental library, and Internet content including photos, music, and more. It is aimed at users that live in areas where the U-verse service is not yet available.

Homezone offers a level of integration that is not available on services offered by cable companies. You can program your DVR from the web, get caller-id on your TV screen, check local movie times, browse to your music and photo libraries or choose from more than 50 stations of high-quality streaming digital radio. We hope to get Homezone set up here soon so we can give you a more thorough review, bur from the looks of things it should be a great solution while you are waiting for U-verse to become available in your area.

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AT&T and Qwest have filed with the FCC to reclassify their broadband services as information rather than telecommunications services. This appeal addresses AT&T's non-TDM broadband services and would enable AT&T to not charge the Universal Service Fund fee to its U-verse customers. A similar request was approved by the FCC for Verizon Communications in February. It is good to see that AT&T is fighting to keep our bills as low as possible.

Source: XchangeMag.com

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