AT&T, Verizon Spell Out Major New Broadband Products at TelcoTV
NEW ORLEANS -- Seeking a new competitive edge against the cable industry, AT&T and Verizon detailed their plans to introduce two major new broadband devices or services at the annual TelcoTV convention last week. In one keynote speech, Jeff Weber, AT&T vice president-U-verse and video strategy, said the telco plans to introduce a new wireless IPTV set-top box that relies on Wi-Fi signals rather than a traditional cable coax link. The wireless set-top, supplied by Cisco, will match an IP video set-top with a Wi-Fi access point, both of which are part of Cisco’s Videoscape product portfolio. AT&T aims to roll out the new Wi-Fi set-tops in all of its U-verse TV markets beginning Monday.
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Weber said the new wireless set-top, unlike a legacy digital box, can be drop-shipped to customers’ homes. AT&T should be able to reduce its operating expenses by sharply cutting the number of truck rolls and the time of box installations: “We'll never have to send a tech to the house.”
Weber confirmed earlier reports that the new wireless receiver won’t transcode video programming into formats that can be displayed on IP-connected tablets, PCs and other mobile devices linked to a customers’ home Wi-Fi network. But, he said, the idea of supporting such an app in the home is “in the forefront of our thinking. … It’s an architecture and efficiency discussion.” He also said AT&T is interested in delivering some kind of U-verse service to a new breed of connected TVs, though with one major caveat: “It doesn’t make sense in the U-verse footprint to deliver a partial service” to smart TVs. The first reports about the new device appeared in March when the FCC approved Cisco’s Wi-Fi-capable ISB7005 set-top. AT&T ended Q3 with nearly 3.6 million U-verse TV subscribers.
Despite some strong notes of caution about multi-screen video and new video apps, Weber indicated AT&T is lavishing attention and resources on such services. He cited U-verse’s multi-view app, which enables Chicago-area U-verse TV subscribers to view Chicago Cubs games from various camera angles. Weber also boasted about U-verse’s new mobile integration, which allows customers to stream and “sideload” content (although just on smartphones so far), as well as program and control their DVRs remotely using a common user interface. He pointed to U-verse Online, a slightly older type of multi-screen service that can stream up to 180,000 TV shows, movies and clips to PCs and laptops.
Weber highlighted AT&T’s new partnership with Microsoft, which brings U-verse to the Xbox 360 console. He also played up a new series of social networking apps that AT&T has fused into U-verse to drive higher usage and foster greater customer engagement. Weber warned that such new services may well fall flat if they're not built around the foundation of strong core video services. While TV Everywhere services are “sexy and important,” they are “not important unless there’s a TV service to wrap [them] around,” he said. “It begins with the [core] TV service.”
Verizon will pitch home control and security service well beyond the telco’s DSL and FiOS footprint, Eric Bruno, vice president-product management, said in another keynote speech. He said Verizon deliberately decided to make its new home control offering “broadband agnostic.” The service, which enables users to control everything from lighting, temperature and energy consumption to home security and door locks, costs subscribers $9.95 a month, plus equipment fees.
Bruno stressed the importance of offering a consistent user interface across all types of consumer devices. He said Verizon sought to make the interface for the home control and security service consistent no matter whether it was accessed through the PC, smartphone, tablet or TV set. He said the telco is pursuing the same strategy as it extends FiOS TV services to a growing array of new consumer devices, including the Xbox 360.
"The viewing experience is going to fragment” as traditional video services essentially become “just another app” on these connected devices, Bruno said. He said one challenge is providing a quality video experience on those devices using networks that may be out of Verizon’s control. But he said “the real risk” is not providing a consistent user interface. “People like to stick to what they know,” he said, showing off screen shots of how Verizon is achieving this with its Interactive Media Guide. He said the telco is trying to live up to an approach of “learn one screen and you learn them all.”