Goodbye UVerse??

It’s been reported by multiple sources that AT&T has begun to slowly shutter it’s over-hyped UVerse TV service. The decision appears to have been reinforced by AT&T’s recent acquisition

of satellite TV powerhouse DirecTV. UVerse has been bleeding subscribers in recent years, as they abandon the once innovative TV service for traditional cable and satellite providers.

Bloomberg reports that AT&T “…has stopped building U-verse set-top boxes and is nudging prospective customers toward its satellite unit, which has lower hardware and programming costs…” (Click here for the full article)

I must admit that it really comes as no surprise to me. I can’t say I’ve ever been a fan of the service, due to it’s comparatively limited abilities with respect to the number of independent streams a home has access to; especially when HD feeds are involved. I personally found the picture quality of UVerse to be somewhat lacking when compared specifically to both satellite companies, though I can’t say it wasn’t an improvement over the local cable providers.

I will give AT&T credit for attempting to offer the beleaguered consumer another option when searching for an all in one TV/telco solution. And they really were at the forefront of proliferating the whole-home DVR and wireless set top box amenities. However, the inconstant geographical availability of the service and qualitative differences appear to have offset the once innovative, and unique UVerse feature set… A feature set that has now become a standard feature amongst UVerse’s competitors.

Couple that with the dollars and cents advantages that the business end of DirecTV brings to AT&T, and the TV service, that at it’s peak only had 6M subscribers, never really had a chance moving forward…

What do you think? Do you have UVerse? What have your experiences been? Chime in under the comments on our Facebook post…

As always, if you have any questions about technology, don’t hesitate to contact us:

cavesman@cavesintegration

330-818-6440