REVERSE FOR AT&T'S U-VERSE VIDEO?

REVERSE FOR AT&T'S U-VERSE VIDEO?

By By JEFF RICHGELS The Capital Times — Thursday, January 24, 2008

Could AT&T be out of the video business before it even brings its U-verse service to Madison?

That's possible, according to TVPredictions.com president Phillip "Swanni" Swann, who predicts AT&T will be out of the video business within 12 to 18 months, CedMagazine.com reported.

AT&T has declined to give a timeline for launching U-verse in Madison. U-verse is delivered to homes using Internet protocol over the company's fiber and copper network, although speculation is that it will be late this year or early 2009.

Swann, who made the prediction at a conference Wednesday, claims an 89 percent success rate with his prognostications.

Swann said AT&T has spent too much time and money for its 250,000 U-verse customers while Verizon has racked up one million subscribers for its FIOS service, which is delivered over a pure fiber network.

AT&T could buy more subscribers by attempting to acquire satellite providers DISH Network or DirecTV, Swann said. A DISH acquisition by AT&T has been the subject of numerous reports in recent months, and AT&T already bundles its services with DISH.

AT&T also has suffered a black eye and millions in expenses from battery fires in its U-verse equipment boxes, noted UW-Madison professor of telecommunications Barry Orton.

"The battery thing was big," Orton said. "It really has taken a lot of their credibility away on all this stuff. I think you can't discount the idea that they had to spend a few million dollars just on batteries."

AT&T spokesman Chris Bauer scoffed at Swann's prediction, noting that the company is adding more than 10,000 U-verse customers per week and expects to be adding 40,000 per week and reach 1 million total by the end of this year.

"While others attempt to predict, we know exactly where we stand with our U-verse rollout," Bauer said in a statement.