AT&T announced today that it had changed the name of its streaming Web portal to “ U-verse Online.” The site first launched in September under the moniker of “AT&T Entertainment.”
While the Web portal is open to any Internet user, AT&T said the newly branded site has been expanded with new features, but most of those seem to be related to providing information on AT&T’s U-verse video service that was formerly located on AT&T’s U-connect website.
AT&T boasted of “tens of thousands of hours of entertainment” on its Web portal, but a lot of the content can be found for free on other websites such as Hulu.
While AT&T is serving up free content from the likes of ABC, NBC and CBS – with the former two networks’ content linked in via Hulu – the company has added information on U-verse TV programming and television events, including channel lineups, on-demand offerings, pay-per-view shows and U-verse’s interactive apps. U-verse customers can also schedule and manage DVR recordings directly from U-verse Online with U-verse Web Remote Access.
AT&T’s U-verse Online Web portal is part of the company’s three-screen strategy for video content across PCs, TVs and mobile devices. In March, the company outlined its plans to offer U-verse Mobile, which is a mobile app that will allow U-verse TV customers to download and watch select shows on their Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones later this year.
Later this year, AT&T plans to offer U-verse TV customers the ability to login to U-verse Online for access to “even more TV content choices and features at no extra charge,” which seems to indicate a separate offering for its video customers.
Time Warner Cable’s TV anywhere service is being provisioned via programmers’ Web portals, while Comcast’s Xfinity streaming service is available to the cable operator’s subscribers based upon their subscription levels, although there is some free content, as well.
