(WHAS11) - Some Jefferson County residents now have a new choice on how to get a television signal.
They can AT&T’s U-verse to the mix of cable, satellite and free TV available.
And, the phone company says in some areas they can not only offer the same channels you get now, but they can do it better. AT&T says it's “cooler than cable.” What that means is, while consumers hope that more competition will translate into lower prices for satellite and cable TV, AT&T hopes that you will switch to U-Verse at roughly the same price because of the extra stuff they promise. AT&T says cable can't offer what its fiber optic service can, features like searchable Yellow Pages and maps, and personalized weather and traffic updates.
“I think everybody would agree in this room that it's good to have choice,” said AT&T’s Bryan Klamer at a ribbon cutting Monday morning. With base prices ranging from $49 to $109 per month, the U-verse price is comparable to cable and satellite. Beyond that, each customer will have decide what's the best deal for them, based on the features they are the most likely to use. While Insight cable offers free High Definition channels, AT&T charges a $10 per household fee for HD. With AT&T, there is no additional DVR charge for the first TV, but each additional TV needs a “set top box” at $7 per month. “Each box is HD ready and the DVR controls it from there,” Klamer explained. While the internet protocol technology offers more communication and interactivity between TV, computer and mobile phone, Louisville’s cable television franchisee warns that there is a price to pay for that interactivity. “If you don't like pop up ads on your computer screen, get ready because you'll have pop up ads on AT&T U-verse,” said Insight’s Jason Keller. “So there are a lot of things that AT&T doesn't tell you about.” AT&T says for competitive reasons, they won't say how many Louisville residences will have access to the U-verse service. They wouldn't even say if most of Jefferson County will get it. But AT&T does say access is not based on the age or income level in a neighborhood. “Most of our deployment is fiber (optics),” Klamer said, “Fiber is already in the ground, so it doesn't matter if you are living in a high end neighborhood. We plan to serve those.” For now, U-Verse is not being offered in Southern Indiana. Since AT&T won't tell me how much of Louisville can get it, I did an internal survey among WHAS11 employees. About 1/3 of us can get it at locations including the Highlands and Fern Creek. But those who can't get it include people in Fern Creek and the Highlands. So it appears to be more in pockets. As of now, AT&T U-verse, like satellite TV, does not offer some local programming that Insight cable does, like the government's Metro TV, and the extra digital channels of local TV, such as WHAS11 24 hour weather channel. AT&T says because of changes to Kentucky tax law, all pay television providers, including AT&T and Insight now pay the same 5.4% tax on gross receipts. AT&T reports an "incredible demand" for its new U-verse television service that it launched in Louisville Monday.
