Thread: AT&T Offers Year of Free HD to Fight Cable

Hey, I just recived this in my email inbox from Multichannel News. This is big and could be an oppertunity to get Dish HD for free From ATT, or Uverse.



AT&T Offers Year of Free HD to Fight Cable


The nation’s largest telephone company will offer new video customers one year of free HD programming -- an attempt to convert cable subscribers to its U-Verse TV service or the satellite services it resells from DirecTV and EchoStar Communications. In a promotion scheduled to run for a few months, AT&T said it will provide more than 25 channels of HD programming, including those of local broadcast affiliates, free to new U-verse TV subscribers.

AT&T regularly charges $10 per month for HD service with U-verse TV, which is now available in parts of 15 metro areas. Most cable operators also charge an additional monthly fee, about $10 to $15, for a tier of HD channels.




"Free access to HD programming for a year gives consumers yet another reason to select AT&T over the competition," AT&T chief marketing officer for consumer marketing Rick Welday said in announcing the deal.

In areas where U-verse TV is unavailable, AT&T will offer free HD service -- up to 31 channels -- to customers who sign up for direct-broadcast satellite service from DirecTV or EchoStar’s Dish Network.
AT&T said the free-HD offer through Dish will be available until May 31 and through DirecTV until June 26. The U-verse TV offer is available through June 30.

AT&T also announced last week that
U-verse services are available to more than 200,000 Dallas-Fort Worth households

, expanding from its initial limited launch in the market last month. Overall, the telco at last count reported about 10,000 customers for the IPTV service, up from
3,000 at the end of 2006


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Here are more details for the AT&T/Dish offer:


http://www.att.com/Common/js/dishHD.htm

I'm interested, but until I can get at least 3 tuners going simultaneously with separate programs, it's not gonna happen. Hopefully, by the time they get to my semi-rural neighborhood, the technology will be there.

Originally Posted by goaliebob99

Hey, I just recived this in my email inbox from Multichannel News. This is big and could be an oppertunity to get Dish HD for free From ATT, or Uverse.

Also an oppertunity to get DirecTV, since it's also part of the deal.

As a side note, AT&T now has deals with Dish (via SBC) and DirecTV (via BellSouth), a question has been will AT&T keep both or go with one or another. Don't know if it means anything or not but today there was a commercial for this deal on a local Austin station (in old SBC area) and the STB's and remotes in the ad were D* hardware, not E*. Probably doesn't mean anything but who knows.

I'd jump on this deal if I could. Unfortunately the closest area with U-verse to me is 8 miles away.

Originally Posted by Neutron

I'd jump on this deal if I could. Unfortunately the closest area with U-verse to me is 8 miles away.

Why would you want UVerse when Scott has said the HD PQ isnt' that great at you get only one HD stream at a time?

The HD PQ is bound to get better, and the one HD stream doesn't bother me as we would only watch HD on one TV at a time.