3Screens

AT&T Launches Total Home DVR in San Antonio

While Total Home DVR has been released in other markets, it's being officially announced today in San Antonio, where I live.

I've had Total Home DVR for 4 days and works as advertised.

Today's edition of our local newspaper, the San Antonio Express News the story here.

Here's a demo shot last week at an AT&T store in San Antonio.  I have a broader opinion piece in the San Antonio Express-News which I will post tomorrow.  (Be sure to click the option to watch in higher quality video on the lower right hand side of the video).

Google Trends Illustrates Searches on AT&T's U-verse vs. Verizon's FiOS

Note search trends on U-verse vs. FiOS....

Mainstream Media Continues to Review U-verse - Too Much Focus on "Just TV"

The L.A. Times' Jim Granelli has a fair and balanced review on AT&T's U-verse service.

My only real critique of Jim's review (and others that I see) is that they are too focused on the TV experience - and not on the whole enchilada: the notion of getting your TV / PC / Wireless service from one provider - and yes for those of you who think I am a pro-AT&T bigot, you can do likewise with Verizon.

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself, but if you are going to compare spec to spec and feature to feature on Cable vs. Satellite vs. IPTV, there will never be a best choice. 

One will always have something the other does not have. 

And as for price, I have found that you can drive yourself crazy on comparing pricing because much of it depends on your local market.

To me, this is not about TV, but rather having several things:

    1.  An alternative to cable and satellite.
    2.  The notion that you are disrupting the traditional way of getting TV
    3.  Getting HD over IP (way too cool)
    4.  Saving money on bundled service offerings
    5.  More competition

Internet TV May Pose Threat To Cable Companies By Decade's End

Found over at Jeff Pulver's blog:  Internet TV pay post threat to cable companies by decade's end.

Jeff brings up a compelling point: much like traditional phone companies (like AT&T / Verizon) are losing wireline cusomters, and shifting to net and cell based services, cable stands to lose out in the same way.

Read Jeff's post here.

Disclosure: in my day job of running a PR firm, one of Jeff's company, Network2 is one of clients.

Om Does A Post About AT&T - Hint: This Ain't Just About TV over IP

Read Om's post about his take on AT&T and Verizon.

Also, please note my comment on his blog. 

This is not a cable replacement.

As the name of this blog implies, it's about delivering entertainment and communications and soon, advertising on all three screens.

DSL Reports Has The Best U-verse Forum

There are two U-verse forums that I know of, U-verse Users and Broadband Reports' AT&T U-verse Discussion Forum.

I personally prefer the U-verse Discussion Forum.  Just a matter of personal taste....

I find the technical questions -- and answers to be of greater substance and is a better barometer on potential impact that not ony AT&T or Verizon could have on broadcast media but the global impact of IPTV as a whole.

Double Trouble (AT&T / Verizon) Moves Ahead Into California

Thursday was my birthday and I celebrated it by going to a wrestling match with my trainer, Cameron Bates, in Seguin, Texas. (not to worry, my kids took me out to lunch to celebrate, and then we are doing Sushi this Sunday night).

During the match, I saw a wrestling duo from Houston, known as Double Trouble.

And then I got to thinking:  maybe AT&T's U-verse and Verizon's FiOS services are really what I would call Double Trouble to the traditional cable and satellite guys who are probably wondering how to defend their turf as both phone companies are successfully gaining the right political moves to expand their IPTV and other related services as we move to a switched video world.

Yesterday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) formally approved AT&T California's application for a state-issued authorization to provide video service in California as part of "The Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act of 2006," which became law on January 1st, 2007.

A big Texas high five to Ed Whitacre and Randall Stephenson for getting this done, just before April Fool's day, tomorrow.

So I guess it means full steam ahead in the build out of California.

Photo shot on location at Fiesta Dance Hall in Seguin, Texas by Alan Weinkrantz (c) All Rights Reserved

This Week at 3Screens.net

This week at 3Screens.net, I am going to broadcast a series of interviews from last week's  VON  Spring 2007 (Voice on the Net and Video on the Net) conference in San Jose.

I decided that rather than writing a long winded pontification of what I learned, I thought it would be more effective to simply document a series of 16 interviews I captured on video.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

What you will see this week on this blog are interviews with some very amazing, very talented, very creative, and very purposeful artists / businesspeople who are creating their own channels on the Web with on-going, serialized content. 

This week you will see a recent college graduate who brought his 80 year old grandmother to VON where he films her in her kitchen keeping the traditions of Judaism with ---- cooking (of course).  You'll also see a Hippie Gourmet, another who helps make time for sex and gets sex done, and a young couple from Montreal who's created an on-going sci-fi show, Galacticast.

I also have interviews with a few industry executives.  For disclosure purposes, in my day job, our firm also represents and handles PR for Network2.tv.  Jeff Pulver and Chris Brogan have very good and insightful blogs on the subject, and I also encourage you to search VON07 in Technorati to search for other VON related blog posts, photos, and of course videos.

Finally, let me leave you with one thought- especially the 20 million consumers I hope reach:  you and not AT&T, TimeWarner, Comcast, Verizon, BT and all the other cable / IPTV providers have the power to shift the balance of who really is in charge of the future of video on demand.   Jeff has a video post where he interviews Jim Southworth, which is worth watching.

Stay tuned this week.  I welcome your feedback and comments - alan at weinkrantz dot com.

Thanks for watching!

Alan Reviews the AT&T U-verse Entertainment Guide

Here is my review of the AT&T U-verse entertainment guide.  You may also download the guide here.

Online Videos by Veoh.com

For A Good Perspective On AT&T, Check Out Sanford Nowlin's Coverage in the Express News

For those of you from outside of San Antonio who read my blog, here is a story from our local newspaper by telecom reporter and AT&T watcher, Sanford Nowlin. 

If you are consumer, a Wall Street honcho, an industry analyst, or just thinking about trying out U-verse, you should check into Sanford's writing at the ExpressNews and subscribe to his his  AT&T blog.

I've known Sanford for something like 15 years and I have always found him to be fair and balance in his reporting on AT&T's gradual roll-out of U-verse in its test market in San Antonio.

In today's story in our daily paper he found a disgruntled customer.  I am sure if he dug deep enough, he could also find an equal disgruntled TimeWarner, Dish, Grande or Direct TV customer. 

He does, however, balance the story half way through the piece.

While national reporters at The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today do a good job of covering the phone company as we no longer know it, Sanford brings a local sense of coverage that you are not going to find so far removed from ground zero of where the broadband communications is taking hold.