AT&T U-verse has added live TV streaming to its authenticated TV Everywhere menu with an app update for iOS devices, including the iPad, iPod Touch and iPhone, that lets customers access more than 100 channels at home and more than 20 while they’re on the go.
Channels with out-of-home rights offered via the U-verse app include AXS TV, Encore, Encore-West, HDNet Movies, NFL Network, NFL RedZone, Pac 12 Network, Pac 12 Bay Area, Pac 12 Los Angles, Showtime, Showtime-West, Showtime Beyond, Showtime Extreme, Showtime Extreme-West, Showtime Family Zone, Showtime Too, Showtime Too-West, Showtime Women, Smithsonian Channel, Starz, Starz-West, The Movie Channel, The Movie Channel West, TMC Xtra, and TMC Xtra-West.
A subset of live channels are also available to authenticated customers via Uverse.com, an AT&T spokeswoman said.
The updated app, offered for free to subscribers who take AT&T's U-family or higher U-verse TV package, will add more live channels and more devices “on an ongoing basis,” the company said.
The U-verse app also supports “thousands” of on-demand TV shows and movies, access to extra content about a show being watched (episode information, photos, case and crew data), remote DVR management, and advanced search features.
“By making live TV content available across devices we’re enabling our customers to watch TV on their terms when and where they want it,” said Mel Coker, chief marketing officer, AT&T Home Solutions, in a statement. “U-verse has always been about delivering a TV experience built around our customers, and this enhancement gives them even more flexibility and control.”
AT&T’s base of U-verse TV subs eclipsed the 5 million mark in the second quarter after adding 233,000 in the period.
AT&T U-verse joins a growing mix of pay-TV operators that have added a mixture of in-home and out-of-home live TV streaming to their TV Everywhere repertoires. Last month, Verizon Communications launched an upgrade to the FiOS Mobile App that, for the first time, offered out-of-home access to live TV, starting with nine channels. Time Warner Cable, meanwhile, has begun to offer up to 11 linear channels (depending on the market) on its TWCTV app for iOS and Android devices, as well as on Web browsers.
