AT&T is launching a satellite TV set-top box Wednesday that also connects to the Internet for movie downloads, reinforcing the phone company’s push into video services, reports Light Reading.
The box, called AT&T Homezone, combines satellite TV programming from EchoStar with DSL service for video downloads. It will be initially available in Ohio and San Antonio to new customers of the cobranded AT&T-Dish Network satellite TV service. It will cost $9.99 a month in addition to Internet and satellite service fees.
AT&T plans to expand the service area in coming months, positioning Homezone as an alternative for those who can’t yet receive its premier service, U-Verse, which transmits video over phone lines. AT&T launched U-Verse service in parts of San Antonio, where the company is based, earlier this summer. It is upgrading its infrastructure to provide the service elsewhere.
The box contains a TiVo-like digital video recorder that records the satellite TV signal on a hard drive. Recordings also can be scheduled remotely via a Web site.
Homezone also downloads movies on demand through from the Internet-based Movielink service for additional fees — $4.99 for new releases. AT&T expects to add support for the video-on-demand service Akimbo in the future.
The video is in standard definition, but AT&T said it plans to introduce a high-definition version of Homezone. The box is made by 2Wire, a San Jose, Calif., company that also makes a gateway for AT&T.
AT&T, BellSouth, Qwest and Verizon are all trying to make video, more universally available. All four companies, to various degrees, testing broadband wireless, fiber and copper solutions.
| AT&T | Project Lightspeed 18 million homes by 2008, 3 million this year, 9 million in 2007 | Homezone combines DSL, DISH satellite available 2Q 2006 |
| BellSouth | Fiber to the curb | WiMAX broadband wireless, ADSL 2+ |
| Verizon | FiOS reaching 3 million homes per year to 15 million to 20 million by 2009 | DSL extensions Fixed wireless trials |
| Qwest | Qwest ChoiceTV over VDSL to limited communities in Arizona and Colorado, HFC network in Omaha | No specific plans announced |
| All four companies are doing FTTH in green-field developments. | ||
Project Lightspeed is the SBC initiative to expand its fiber-optics network deeper into neighborhoods. That delivers AT&T’s U-verse TV, voice and high-speed Internet access services.
A variety of service plans are available from $69/month - $114/month. U-verse includes 200 channels of IPTV, Spanish-language programming, video-on-demand, and an interactive program guide. Features exclusive to IPTV include faster channel-changes, a mosaic approach to picture-in-picture displays, and content searches via keywords such as actor names.
SBC’s Project Lightspeed uses VDSL-2, to reach the overwhelming majority of their homes. They deliver fiber to the neighborhood, but twisted pair copper to the home.
SBC uses Alcatel gear for the fiber backbone. It consists of IP routers, the 7750, the Ethernet switches, the 7450, the remote DSLAM, the 7330. Microsoft’s IPTV software is used for the settop box.
Verizon’s FiOS (Fiber Internet Service) does not use DSL. It brings fiber directly to the home. For in-home distribution it uses twisted pair (for voice) and coax (for video). FiOS TV uses digital cable boxes rather than IP-TV. Fios Internet Service requires CAT5 or higher grade wiring. It will deliver 5 Mbps ($39/mo) to 30 Mbps ($199/mo). When installing Fios, Verizon tears out your twisted pair.
Related DailyWireless stories include; SBC Picks IP-TV Settops, Cuban: Broadcasting Not Dead, GoogleNet?, The Free Triple Play, VDSL-2 Ratified, IPTV: Is It Soup Yet?, IP-TV Settops, Legislators: Don’t Mess With SBC, DirecTV + WiMax?, Muni Wireless Laws, Duopoly Laws, Mobile TV Expands, Verizon Does Cellular TV, Video Search, Big Media Mobilizes, U.S. Gets MobileTV via DVB-H, Samsung’s Video over DSL, The Man Who Invented Television, The Smartest Guy in the Room, and Unlicensed Spectrum: The Sum of All Fears.
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