AT&T To Provide Cable TV In Madison By End Of 2008

After the latest example this summer by Charter Communications as to why they need competition for cable services, comes news that AT&T will provide cable services in Madison by the end of the year.  The business tactics of Charter are slimy, and one can only hope that competition will allow for the customer to be better served with our cable needs with At&T.  I can’t wait! 

Happy AT&T customers like Lundey may be bad news for local cable provider Charter Communications, which is already facing stiff competition from satellite providers. U-verse will debut in the Madison area by the end of this year, although AT&T is not revealing an exact date. But the real winners could be consumers, who will have another choice for their TV and Internet service. And the added competition could bring another positive effect — possibly raising the bar in an industry known for poor customer service.

For its part, Charter doesn’t seem fazed by the competition.

We’re trying to roll out the TV product in a way that we can reach the most consumers in the quickest way, but in a way that the customer experience is a good one,” Bauer from ATT said.

The technicians handling U-verse installations are all AT&T employees, with company workers being moved into markets to meet demand rather than outsourcing the work, Bauer said.

Barry Orton, a UW-Madison professor of telecommunications who follows cable issues closely, called it “almost a stealth rollout,” adding that AT&T is probably concerned about handling a sudden deluge of new customers angry with their cable company. A key factor in the demand for U-verse here is that some Charter customers who considered switching to satellite were not able to for a variety of reasons, such as being unable to successfully position a satellite to pick up a signal, he said.

Like the satellite providers, U-verse offers the NFL Network and Big Ten Network, two sports offerings that Charter still doesn’t have deals to carry.

U-verse TV offerings start at $44 per month (not counting taxes and fees) for up to 100 TV channels and rise to $99 for more than 300 channels. Packages that add in high-speed Internet access range from $69 to $154 per month. The company has not yet launched U-verse phone service in Wisconsin and doesn’t offer bundles with its traditional land line phone service, Bauer said.

AT&T’s marketing for U-verse includes direct mail, door-to-door marketing and its Web site, where a customer can enter their information and get an e-mail notification when it launches for their area.

“We want to reach as many customers as quickly as possible,” Bauer said. “We say that once they see it, a lot of people buy it. Which is why we are trying to expand the demonstration units into our AT&T retail stores.”

U-verse currently is available to 11 million households in 53 markets across 13 states, with more than 10 percent penetration in established market areas. In Wisconsin, U-verse is available in “parts of more than 100 communities,” Bauer said. “We can’t give numbers, but we’re meeting our goals in Wisconsin and we have very high goals.”

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