Internet TV: AT&T's Dubious Attempt

The company says the service, dubbed U-Verse, utilizes Internet Protocol (IP) to bring a more interactive television experience to customers.

"Our new television service was built around the needs of the individual customer," Brooks McCorcle, AT&T vice president and South Texas regional general manager said. "We're confident that once customers experience AT&T U-verse TV, they'll never look at home entertainment the same way again."

Companies are looking for new ways that consumers can watch and interact with their televisions. It comes at a time when cable television, the standard in many homes today, is starting to show signs of age.

Consumers have shown an increasing demand for downloadable music, movies and instant messaging. With patience levels decreasing, traditional broadcasters may no longer be filling the needs of consumers looking for on-demand programming with higher visual and audio quality.

IPTV is one of the newest offerings leading the shift. With U-Verse, AT&T says that in addition to television, customers should see advanced features such as picture-in-picture windows as well as interaction with other IP services, such as voice calling and web surfing all through the same service.

AT&T spokesman Fletcher Cook says that initial customers "have been pleased" with the offering. He adds that the company plans to expand the service to nearly 19 million homes by 2008. But with experts citing a number of problems and limitations, will the new service be embraced?

Pipe Dreams

Since January, U-Verse has been in trial runs across select homes in Texas, however it has been struggling to overcome technical issues and experts question whether the technology can be widely adopted.

"The issue is that [the technology] doesn’t work," Todd Mitchell, a research analyst with Kaufman Bros. told IBTimes. "The architecture has several fundamental problems."