AT&T launches America's first internet TV service

America’s largest telecoms company, AT&T, will today launch an internet TV service that will stream content to viewers over their wireless or fixed-line broadband connections. The service will cost $20 (£10.70) per month, on top of broadband connection charges of $12.99..

The telecommunications giant said the service is being offered in the US in partnership with TV content provider, MobiTV.

AT&T Broadband TV, the first service of its kind in the US, will initially offer 20 channels of cable and TV specifically made for broadband. The firm said new channels and other content will be added regularly.

Doug York, AT&T’s senior vice-president of programming said the service is part of the firm’s strategy to bring a “digital lifestyle” into the mainstream. To realise those plans York said AT&T needed to capture “all three screens”, meaning the PC, TV and mobile phone screen.

Potentially, AT&T could tap into more than 8 million American homes by convincing existing broadband customers they need broadband TV and is kicking off a two-week free trial of the service to entice customers.

The move is part of an aggressive strategy that will see AT&T construct America’s first purpose-built “internet TV network”, according to York. That strategy will set the telecommunications giant on a collision course with cable operators who have traditionally dominated TV provision there.

According to new research from research firm Telephia, the American mobile TV audience grew by 45 per cent to 3.7 million subscribers in Q2. Mobile TV revenues surged 67 per cent to $86 million during Q1 06.