The latest quarterly reports from Verizon Communications and AT&T reveal continued consumer uptake of their respective competitive service offerings to traditional cable TV.
For the first quarter of 2009, AT&T added a record new 284,000 AT&T U-verse TV subscribers, taking total subscriptions to the IPTV service to more than 1.3 million. The record additions in U-verse TV subscribers came in the first full quarter that AT&T’s Total Home DVR service was available in all U-verse TV markets.
AT&T now covers 93 markets in 19 states with its U-verse service, passing about 18 million living units.
Similarly, Verizon reported new net additions of 299,000 FiOS TV subscribers, raising its total to 2.2 million pay TV subscribers. Total FiOS TV subscriptions for the quarter represent an 84 percent increase from the first quarter in 2008, the company said.
Verizon grew its FiOS TV sales penetration to 22.9 percent, compared with 18.7 percent for the first quarter of last year. At the end of the quarter, FiOS TV was available for sale to nearly 10 million premises.
According to Jeff Weber, VP of video services, AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets, the accelerated growth of U-verse TV subscribers shows demand “remains high even in challenging economic times.”
